Through Fire and Ice
by Chiyoku
Summary: Seventy years has passed since the encounter with Pitch. But now the Nightmare King has returned to gain his revenge on the Guardians and continue what he started, though this time he isn't alone. He has help of a new fire spirit.
1. Prologue

Everything was emitting of summer. The sky was high blue and cloudless, and the sun stood high on the sky. The heat was almost unbearable.

If only it had rained, the weather would've fit the mood and atmosphere.

But though the heat was bad and most would've stayed inside the shadows, a specific group of humans were all gathered in the sun, dressed in fine black clothes. They were all standing around a hole in the ground, surrounded by flowers. A priest stood and made his speech, talking about the life of the man in the coffin. Some of the humans couldn't keep their tears back, but they tried to keep their sobs low, to not interrupt the ceremony or the others around them.

The Guardians watched from their hiding place in the shadows between some trees a bit away, as the mortals lowered the coffin into the ground. They wouldn't interrupt the ceremony by gaining the attention from the believers – it wouldn't be appropriate for them to do so.

The priest threw three shovels of earth into the hole, followed by flowers from family and friends. Tears were to spot on almost each of their sweaty faces.

A man started to fill up the hole with earth, and soon after they covered the bare ground of the grave with the many colorful flowers and bouquets.

The humans stood a long while around the grave before starting to depart – they were probably going somewhere to get a cup of coffee, as an ending to the day.

A child noticed the Guardians from their hiding place, pointing towards them and made its mother look at them. She smiled towards them with tears falling from her eyes, happy for them to have come to the funeral, before she and her two sons disappeared through the gates.

But the Guardians didn't leave.

When there were no more mortals around, they neared the grave, each with a little thing in their hands. They stopped up, half admiring the beauty of the flowers, half sobbing over the loss. But none of them was sobbing more than Jack.

Tooth laid a hand on his shoulder in comfort – from her eyes big tears had started to fall, and it didn't take long before the two of them was crying almost uncontrollably.

North and Bunny tried to comfort them, even though it looked like they too were on the verge of tears. Sandy was standing beside them crying silently.

As their sobs died out, and the tears had stopped falling, they each slowly sat down what they held in their hands on the grave; a basket with beautifully decorated Easter Eggs, a yeti doll, a bouquet of flowers made of golden dream sand, a tooth box, and an old red sleigh.

On the tombstone the following words were written with black inscriptions;

_Jamie Bennett  
05.12.2004 – 08.07.2070  
"I will always believe"_

* * *

**Yes, this chapter is really short - only 500 words or so, I know that, but it's only a proglogue. The next chapters are way longer than this**


	2. Spirit of Fire

The snow fell silently from the dark sky, and landed on the polar scenery of the North Pole. Jack sat in one of the open windows in North's Workshop all by himself. He didn't feel like creating any snow days or blizzards or feel like going out and do something fun. It just seemed like something so distant from him – as if he had never felt, or would feel, joy in his immortal life. He had slacked off of his duties as a Guardian the past four years, he knew that, but whenever he had tried to create some snow, it had just come out... weird. As if it wasn't snow at all, more like some sort of sleet. It was pathetic, he knew that; a winter spirit that couldn't create real snow nor frost. What a pathetic thing he was. It had all started when Jamie had passed, so he guessed it might be due to his lack of spirit and the sad emotions he was feeling. Could emotions control your powers? He didn't know, and he honestly didn't care.

If he had to be completely honest though, then he wouldn't even care if his believers stopped believing in him, so he would stop existing. The other Guardians had freaked out when they had found out that he felt that way. It wasn't long after he had come to live at the North Pole, after the funeral; they had been at one of the monthly meet-ups at the North Pole to keep in touch, and apparently to check up on Jack. They, the others, had all been trying to get Jack's spirit up, but had only been met with the empty look in the Guardian of Fun's eyes. They had tried everything, but only resulted in Jack muttering that he didn't care if he lost all of his believers and therefore would vanish into non-existence. It had freaked them out completely. He remembered their reactions like it had happened yesterday…

"_I'd just wish they would stop believe in me so I could stop existing…" His voice had been nothing but a silent whisper, but it was still loud enough for the Pooka to hear it. Unfortunately._

"_Oi Frostbite, don't you dare talk shit," Bunny exclaimed with strong concern and shock in his eyes, as he turned around and looked at their youngest member. He could barely believe what he had heard, and he would have wished he had heard wrong, but he knew he hadn't. Not with his amazing hearing anyway. "There's no way you should even think like that!"_

_Jack scowled at the Kangaroo, cursing himself for having whispered his thoughts out loud. "Like you care anyway, shouldn't you go paint some eggs or something; Easter's in two weeks, isn't it?"_

_Bunny shook his head, not looking away from his friend, as he spoke: "I don't care about that mate, now you better say that you were just saying that as a joke." He could see the empty eyes of Jack's. He knew that kid had meant it. He knew that kid wanted to die. But he couldn't let him wish for something like that. Not after a simple death of a mortal. It was sad yes, but there was a reason why spirits never befriended any humans – losing them would cause too much harm on their soul. Like it had done with Jack._

"_Or what? You'll send your eggs on legs after me?" Jack spit. He honestly didn't want a discussion; he just wanted to disappear from the face of Earth forever, one way or another. Was that too much to ask for? He had been alive way too long after Destiny had chosen to kill him off, but then chosen to let Manny do what he wanted. He knew she had, he had talked to her. What a weird spirit she was… And right now, he hated her for having granted Manny permission into bringing him back._

_The other three Guardians looked confused at Bunny, unable to understand what was going on between the two of their friends. They just looked confused as the conversation unfolded between the two of them._

"_What's going on?" Tooth asked the two of them as they were having a verbal fight, though Jack seemed to be elsewhere. He answered bunny with a sharp tongue, yes, but it wasn't with the same passion as he usually did when arguing with Bunny. His words almost sounded despairing and longing for something. And his eyes... They were so empty. It didn't seem like him at all. She was worried._

_Bunny glanced at her, something inside him tightened when he saw her worried expression. He hated to see his friend so worried, and he could only imagine how she would react once he told her. "Little Snowflake over here wishes that his believers stop believing," he said, looking back to Jack. "He said he'd wish people stopped believing in him so he could stop existing."_

_Just as expected, Tooth's hands shut up covering her mouth and she looked shocked at her white haired friend, who sat at the window, starring at them with a neutral expression. She shook her head, unable to imagine the horrid things going through his mind. How could he think stuff like that? How could he wish for something like that?_

_North and Sandy both looked just as shocked at Tooth when they heard what Bunny had said. North knew Jack was down, and he was sadder than ever in the last months after passing – his hood had been up constantly since the passing, but North would never had imagined it was that bad._

_Sandy looked with wide eyes, and had formed an exclamation mark above his head, surrounded by many others._

_Jack looked away from them, ignoring the many things they started to say to him about that he shouldn't wish for something like that. He didn't care what they said. He just wanted to disappear. At least they didn't know about the many times during the past months he had tried to …_

A sudden hand on Jack's shoulder ripped him out of his thoughts, before looking at the owner of the large hand. North stood beside him with a worried smile on his lips – ever since he and the other Guardians had found out about Jack's dark thoughts, he hadn't left the young Guardian alone for more than a few hours at a time, and he always had a Yeti keep an eye on him. Especially after a yeti had reported it had seen Jack throw himself off of one of the glacier without his staff, which had explained why Jack had come back all wet, earlier that same day.

"Jack, it's been four years, you think it's time to move forward, no?" He asked him in a gentle voice, worried for his friend's well-being.

Jack didn't answer, ignoring the big man. He probably didn't understand how it was to lose a friend, who was your first believer too, and had made your most inner dream come true and then help save the believes of every kid in the whole entire world and the lives of the Guardians. Yes, it had been four years since the funeral where Jamie had been put into the ground. But no matter how little Jack wanted to think about it, he just couldn't seem to stop it.

"Look at me," North continued, eager to lighten up Jack's spirit. "Jamie had joyful life, thanks to you. You made his life adventure whenever two of you were together. But think of kids around the world, who's just waiting for snow day. Waiting for _you_," he said and poked Jack in the chest.

Jack looked annoyed at the man, wishing for him to just go away, but he could see the determination in the man; he wouldn't leave Jack even if he sent the worst of blizzards after him, and froze the whole world into a new Ice Age. Dammit.

He sighed and surrendered without a fight. "I know, North, I just…" He couldn't complete the sentence. It still hurt too much to talk about. Why did Jamie have to pass this soon anyway?

North sighed before he let a hand slide down his face, lost in thoughts of ways to make Jack cheer up. That kid sure seemed like he had lost his happy spirit forever, and he had become extremely grumpy lately. "Jack, you can't stay hidden in Workshop forever, and only go out and make some snow days when I make you; what wouldn't Jamie say?"

Jack frowned. He hadn't made any snow days when North had told him to do so – he had only made sleet, of some sort. All the snow there was now came directly from Mother Nature, and hers was rough and mostly deadly, but it was snow none the less. Besides; North didn't know Jack's powers were as good as kaput. He could still fly of course, but the snow and frost was just gone.

What wouldn't the Guardians think of him if they knew?

But Jack had to admit that he hadn't thought of what Jamie would have said if he saw his favorite Guardian be this sad and useless. Jack snorted as a lump in his throat tightened. Jamie would be sad of seeing the guardian he had believed so strongly in be sad and not having fun at all. He wouldn't have approved of it.

Jack sighed at the memory; as Jamie had gotten older, he had gotten more serious and lesser fun as the world had demanded more and more of him. He had made sure that his kids believed in Jack, which he had been thankful for, but it just wasn't the same.

As time passed, Jamie got older. Like any other mortal did. He had even gotten grandkids at some point. And then… There was the time at the hospital. Jack had been there, at Jamie's last moments, together with some of Jamie's family members. He had tried to make the last time enjoyable, he really had. He had made it snow, made ice animals fly around the room and basically anything he could think of to bring forth a smile on Jamie's face. The family members, who could see Jack, had been thankful for what he had done, knowing how much the two meant for each other – they were like brothers.

But no matter how much Jack had wished for Jamie to keep on living, and begged Man in Moon countless times to make Jamie into a spirit, it was a lost cause. His time had run out. Jack had first realized it wasn't just an evil nightmare at the funeral. Jamie was gone and there was nothing to do. He hadn't been himself ever since. His usual joyful-self had been basically gone from the face of Earth for four years. He had locked himself up at North's guestroom (who had been more than willing to take care of Jack) and barely even eating anything – not that he ever had been eating that much, but even mortals would've said he had gotten an eating disorder.

"He would've said I should go out and make a blizzard and come back with a smile on my face," Jack finally said.

North nodded and sent Jack a gentle, encouraging smile, hoping that he at least could get some of the old Jack back to the world. "Then what you still doing here? Go out and make blizzard!" He looked out the window, his eyes gazing at the snowy sky. "I would say Germany is good place to start, just think of joy and wonder you bring children by giving them snow in middle of summer."

Jack sighed. "I guess that would create _something_ for the kids…" He didn't want to mention his lack in powers. That would only upset North more than already was, not to mention causing some serious worries among his friends, which he especially didn't want to cause for his father-figure.

North poked him in the chest, feeling the uncertainty from his young friend. "What is your center, Jack? What do you do?"

"Have fun," Jack answered, unsure why he suddenly asked him this obvious question.

"Exactly, then why you sitting here all depressed? You're Guardian of Fun, Jack. You're the one that makes the day great for kids everywhere you go. So why not make the sad smiles on their faces turn upside down, yes?"

A deep sigh escaped from Jack. He was right; how was he supposed to be the Guardian of Fun, if he didn't have fun himself? Jamie definitely wouldn't have approved – he would've been disappointed. But did his opinion even matter anymore? Why couldn't he just sit here at the window with his miserable thoughts and be alone, instead of having to be thrown around by the big man that owned this place? What was his problem anyway? Didn't he have some toys to make to bribe some kids?

Jack took a deep breath and looked North in the eyes with a completely changed expression, though it was only for show to get the guy off his back. "Alright North, I'll do it. Germany will see the first snow day during summer in a long time."

"HA! That's my boy!" North exclaimed happy as the young boy jumped out of the window and was swooped away by the wind. He didn't see the sour expression that had appeared in Jack's face.

Just how in the world was Jack supposed to make a _blizzard_ during _summer_, when he could barely make anything that looked like decent snow?

He soon felt the horrible warmth of summer as he neared the European country. He didn't go far into the country though, only in the area near the ocean, he had found that the longer he got into the mainland, the hotter it became, which was much to his displeasure. Why had North suggested that he should do this during summer anyway? He knew how he hated the warmth. It was like North didn't know him at all anymore.

Jack frowned as he landed on a rooftop, but yelped and flew off of it as fast as he could when the hot surface burned his bare feet. Great. Just great.

He flew around the North German town, sticking to the shadows, away from that horrible warmth, even though it was early in the evening. Why had he said yes to do this anyways?

Oh... Right… To get away from North.

A shop nearby with the words "_Eis Shop_" written over the door way caught Jack's attention; outside was a big sculpture formed like an ice cream and serial tables with matching chairs stood around it, with Germans eating ice cream.

The sight of it, made Jack quickly fly through the doors, into the cool shop, away from the warmth of the unforgiving sun outside. He didn't hesitate with opening the fridge behind the counter and pulling out serial ice creams, which he tore the wrapping paper off and, he didn't just eat them, he _inhaled_ them. He ate them as quick as he could, he felt so hot! He had even started to sweat. He never sweated! He even felt like hyperventilating due to the warmth, and he was sure he was about to melt.

He cursed North for having suggested coming here, no matter how much Jack cared for the father-figure, he hated him right now. He hated summer. He hated the warmth. He utterly hated everything warm.

Nicholas St. North had tried making him drink hot cocoa once. _Once_. Never again. It had burned Jack's tongue and had (in his desperation of cooling it down) started a blizzard inside the Workshop, and it had taken weeks to get all the snow away. After that, the old Guardian of Wonder had learned only to serve something cold for the winter spirit.

Jack was about halfway through his seventh ice-lolly, when he felt something. He looked around with the ice-lolly sticking out of his mouth, and another already ready in his hand. Had it just been his imagination? He was sure he felt someone staring at him, but then again, it could just have been some of the costumers that had stared at the ice disappearing one after one into thin air, even though it didn't seem like anyone had noticed. He continued to devour the ice-lollies, before he finally felt cooled enough down. How many had he been eating by now? Sixteen? It was probably more according to the big pile of ice-sticks on the ground under him. Tooth really wouldn't approve if she knew how much sugar he had given his teeth; he could just imagine how she would start her long speech about dental caries and cavity and stuff like that, and suggest him to brush and flush right away, not wanting him to ruin his _Most Beautiful and Pearly Teeth in the World_ as she called them.

He looked outside the big window, wondering when that terrible heat would go away. Sure, the sun had started to disappear, but it was still warm as hell. He sighed and swung his staff, trying to call forth some snow.

Sleet.

Jack rolled his eyes, and grabbed some ice-lollies and stomped them into his hoodie, before going outside. The sooner he left this place the better. He looked tired at the sun, hating it for everything it was right now.

He sighed and stuck another ice-lolly in his mouth, but then he felt it again; someone watching him. He looked around – none of the Germans was looking at him. They were all busy eating their ice creams and playing in the sun. No one could see him, not that he minded really. He sighed and was about to fly away, when something shot into his vision; something small and colorful, like a very dark hummingbird.

But that couldn't be right, could it? There weren't hummingbirds in Germany – it wasn't a southern country at all, and didn't contain the right environment for them. Then could it be…

He grinned and followed the quick little creature as it flew through town. Wasn't it a bit too early for it to be out and collect teeth? He tried calling for it, though he knew how busy Tooth's fairies were, but it didn't react to his call. Maybe it hadn't heard him?

The fairy flew out of town and into the country side, with Jack following it, while eating ice-lolly after ice-lolly. At least the sun had started to set, Jack thought as he playfully followed the fairy. He soon closed up with it, but noticed that it didn't look like the other fairies did. It wasn't a major difference though, it was just its feathers that were much darker than the others were – it almost seemed black in its feathers, though the sun still made it shine in the many exotic colors.

He didn't think too much about it though, he knew there were differences in the fairies, just look at Baby Tooth; her head-feather was yellow, she had a purple and a blue eye and two beauty-marks under her right eye. There were probably a lot more fairies with abnormalities like that – there were millions of them after all, so it wouldn't come like a surprise.

Finally, when the stars had filled the sky (he hadn't realized he had been chasing the fairy that long – he had had fun for once by doing it… What a creep he was by having fun while stalking), the fairy slowed down as they reached a field filled with oats, that swayed in the dry summer wind. Jack lowered his speed and watched, curiously as the fairy stopped up in the air near the ground, where it started to swirl around.

Curiously Jack watched its strange behavior. It didn't have a tooth in its hands or a coin in its belt, and there was most certainly no houses nearby. Had he been wrong about it being one of Tooth's fairies? They never left the tooth Palace unless it was to gather teeth or with Tooth her-self on missions. So there was no way it was one of Tooth's.

The fairy began to chirp, but was caught by a hand that appeared from down between the oats, making it shut up. Shortly after a figure rose up, stretching as if it had been sleeping. It let go of the fairy which just began to chirp again, ignoring completely that it had been squeezed just a moment ago.

The figure froze a second, right as the full-moon broke out between the few clouds on the sky, and started to shine brightly, lightening up the whole scenery as it bathed everything in an intense silvery glow.

He could see the figure clearly now.

It was a girl in the end of her teenage years. Her hair was long, flamingly red and moved almost like flames, only being held back from her face by a pair of big pilot goggles. Her body was slim and she was wearing an orange t-shirt, short orange shorts, where serial belts hang, a short brown west, and on her feet was a pair of big old military boots. She was pretty, no doubt about that.

She looked at the moon with judging yellow eyes. They were filled with hate towards it, and he could barely hear her words towards it, filled with intense hatred; "How _dare_ you appear right in front of my face? Didn't you do enough damage already, Tsar Lunar? Just look at me, and see what you have created!" She spit her words with pure venom in them against the moon, apparently furious at it, or rather the Man in the Moon.

Jack watched as she continued her one-man-conversation against the moon, but it only lasted a moment before the girl turned around, after the fairy had chirped again, staring directly at the observer - Jack. Her eyes were wide with shock, but they quickly became cold as ice, as she looked at the guy hanging in the air before her.

She grabbed the fairy and before Jack could as much as blink, an explosion of flames surrounded her, and she disappeared, leaving nothing but a field on fire and a confused Guardian.


	3. Let's Talk About It

"I've never heard of a spirit of fire," Tooth said thoughtfully, when Jack had told her about what he had seen. He had come to the Tooth Palace after having been in Germany, where he hadn't as much as been able to cause the temperature even the slightest. He had only come because he didn't want to go see North this soon. "But there're many spirits out there, others more known than others, so it is possible that she's one of those who's not very well-known among humans." She gave some orders before continuing. "And what goes for what she said to Manny, then she might be mad at him for creating her, just like you was."

Jack nodded, not really listening to what she said, as he caressed Baby Tooth's head with his finger. She had been more than excited for his sudden visit, and hadn't left his side for a single moment.

He sure had been mad at the moon, and he still was though not as much as before; now it was more a thing he would never forgive him for doing against him - letting him wander around Earth for 300 years without ever answering any of his questions, letting him live in almost complete solitude. So yeah, you could say it was more of a grudge now.

"Baby Tooth is really taken by you," Tooth said with a gentle smile, before it turned into a big one as one of her fairies came back with a tooth, which apparently was its own masterpiece. "Look how amazing this incisor is, isn't it adorable? Lost by falling off a bicycle, but just look at it; it's so cute!" She showed it excited to him, and he smiled as he saw it, though he honestly didn't feel like it. Why had he come here anyway? He didn't want to talk, so it hadn't been a good choice to come here, but she had noticed him before he had been able to turn around, and since he didn't want to hurt her feelings, he had followed her inside to talk.

He tickled Baby Tooth on the belly, which made her feathers point in every direction as she made a little adorable birdlike laughter that had almost forced a smile on his lips. He sighed and looked at the many fairies that flew all over the place, amazed that none of them had crashed into each other yet. There was simply order in the chaos. But weren't there fewer than usual? Maybe it was just a busy night, which was highly likely.

Tooth sent him a worried glance as she gave a few orders to her fairies. How she managed to know exactly where teeth as well as the exact amount, was a mystery to him. "Are you okay Jack, you seem a bit down?"

"I'm fine, Tooth, I'm just a bit grumpy for the time being, guess it's the lack of sugar setting in or something, it's nothing to..." He was interrupted as she hurried to him and opened his mouth, staring into it with an observing and rather fascinated, yet terrified look, as she always did when she looked at his _beauties_.

"Geez Jack," Tooth exclaimed as she smelled the sweet in his breath. "Just how many ice-lollies have you been eating?" She looked him quickly in the eyes before returning to his mouth. "I'd say ten at least; you _do_ know what sugar does to the teeth right? You do flush right? Aren't you worried about dental caries? You should be, just imagine the catastrophe it would be if something happened and they lost their sparkle of freshly fallen snow! Imagine if your teeth turned _yellow_!" She said the last part with such horror, that Pitch might as well have shrunk himself and chosen to jump into Jack's mouth with a bucket of yellow paint and started redecorating the inside of Jack's mouth.

Jack rolled his eyes while Tooth continued complaining of his lack of care for his teeth, and telling him the best ways to brush and flush in order to protect his beauties. He wanted to say something, but she just kept his mouth open, making him unable to make any of what he said sound like words, and it didn't get better with her constant babbling.

"'_Ooth_ …"

"… and if you do it more than three times a day, I can assure you that they will continue sparkle, maybe even more, and they'll might sparkle even more! Just think about how much they will shine if you follow my advice and they could be even brighter, and you will be able to avoid dental caries. I can tell you, I feel ashamed when my fairies brings me baby teeth that has been destroyed by that terrible sugar; I can't believe that their parent will let them have all that candy and not have them brush and flush twice after!"

"'_Ooth…_!"

"Once, my fairies had been out collecting teeth from this boy, I guess it was twenty years ago but that doesn't matter, the case is that he had knocked out serial teeth, and he had been eating so much candy and never brushed or flushed, so when they collected them and had brought them to me, I nearly puked! Can you believe it? Even my fairies felt disgusted of the arrival of those _things_, I don't even know if you could call them teeth, they were filled with dental caries, and right now they're like a scare example for my fairies, so they remember to –"

"'_OOTH_!"

She stopped her babbling and looked shocked at his sudden outburst before she quickly removed her fingers from his mouth so he could speak normally again. Jack smacked his lips, while trying to regain some fluid in his dried out mouth. "Listen Tooth, it's all really fascinating and all, but my teeth are fine, they won't lose their spark or anything, and it's not like I forget to brush them – you remind me every time I see you! But I doubt my teeth will be affected by dental caries anyway, even if I didn't; I didn't brush them in the 300 years I lived without you guys around, so don't you think I'm on the safe side?"

Tooth slowly nodded her head, bewildered over the fact that he didn't brush his teeth for 300 years. How could his breath have been so minty fresh and his teeth so sparkling when she finally had gotten a view on them, when he had been chosen as a Guardian? It was just… unbelievable. A mystery she had to uncover sooner or later. She still felt sorry for his poor teeth. Just imagining them not having seen a tooth brush in so long; it was horrible.

She watched as her friend (and secret crush) as he got to his feet and held put Baby Tooth on his shoulder, before turning to look at the marble towers, studying them with wondering eyes. Was he mad at her for having started to blabber like that, and had insisted on him flushing and brushing again? Her nerves were on edge, had she messed up something? Why didn't he turn to look at her? Why did he just…

"What do you do with the teeth when the kids die? You can't really use them when they're gone, can you?"

His question came as a surprise, and she took a few moments before starting to answer his question, relieved that he wasn't mad; she really had to stop her-self from time to time. "We keep them of course. Even if they're dead, they still contain memories, and they're the last remaining signs of the children's existence even hundreds of years after their time has ended. And to your knowledge, the teeth contain a bit of worldly history. Just look at your memories. With those, we can see what the colonial times looked like, if we ever needed that. It's fascinating really, that such small things can contain such large amount of memories and feelings. I even have my own here somewhere." She looked dreamingly up towards the sky of Punjam Hy Loo. It was a really beautiful place, and Jack couldn't help but admire it from time to time, though he would always prefer a winter landscape instead. Tooth was lost in thoughts and was only being pulled back by the big amount of fairies that had gathered around her, waiting for orders, but impatiently began chirping and ripped her back to reality, and she quickly began to give orders so quick that it was almost impossible to hear what she said. However, the mini fairies didn't seem to have trouble with understanding since they flew off one by one.

Finally, when the fairies had gotten their orders, Tooth turned to Jack with an apologizing look on her face; "Sorry, I guess I spaced out a bit, huh?" When Jack only shrugged, she felt a piece of sadness in her heart. Why couldn't he just smile and laugh like he used to do? "So," she continued, clapping her hands together with a smile on her lips, trying to find a way to make a smile appear in his face once again. "Are you finally leaving that sorrowful expression of yours behind? It's been ages since I've seen you smile last, not to mention heard about you making pranks all over the world, so I thought that you might finally be over it, it _has_ been four years right? And we can't have my personal_ helper_ to stay hidden at North's workshop forever, now can we? It wouldn't be fair for the poor teeth which are just waiting to be knocked out, right?" She nervously caught his eye, hoping that she would succeed with her mission.

They watched each other for a while, before a small grin finally appeared on jack's lips together with a chuckle that melted her heart. She knew it would still take long for the happy Jack to come back, but at least she had managed to make him laugh a bit. And that was a huge step according to what North had told her about Jack and his behavior at the North Pole. But oh, how she loved that smile. "_Nothing_ better than a tooth being knocked out by a freaky sledding accident, am I right?" Jack said with and swung his staff around with a grin that only grew, while unsure of how Tooth had been able to make him make a chuckle. Maybe it was her never ending blabbering and obsession of teeth? Or simply that she was a great friend who knew what to say and when to say it. No matter what, he was glad she had noticed him before he had turned around. She just made him smile even when he didn't want to.

She smiled happy to see some of his old happy-self had returned a bit, even if it would only last during the rest of his visit, or even if it was only a façade he put up to not let her down, then she was glad she had gotten to see him smile a bit, and hopefully he would soon smile that mischievous smile like he used to smile before it all happened.

* * *

The wind carried Jack towards North's workshop at the North Pole, while his thoughts were circling around the weird light feeling in his chest. He had been at Tooth's for three days now, constantly talking to her about everything. They hadn't talked about Jamie though – Tooth knew the subject was out of the question and had therefor talked with Jack about everything else but that, right from he woke to when he would go to the lower levels of the Tooth Palace to find a tree and sleep in. Jack hadn't told her though, but just talking to someone that weren't constantly trying to bring up Jamie (like a certain Guardian of Wonder), really had lightened his mood and he felt like he was finally able to just be happy a bit, for the first time in four years.

Baby Tooth had chosen to follow Jack back to the North Pole, and she currently sat in his hoodie, because her wings would freeze stuck, since they were up above the clouds. As Jack broke through the clouds and lowered in altitude, he tried to swing his staff and make some snow, but there still was nothing more than a poor version of sleet appearing.

He sighed as the light feeling disappeared – he had thought it would have been enough to talk with Tooth for a few days, but apparently it hadn't been enough. His powers were still kaput.

As he landed inside the Workshop, and started to walk straight back to his room, since he didn't feel like North (that guy got on his nerves more than Bunny for the time being with all his many, _many_ advices and Christmas songs all year – even in July!), he was stopped as serial yeti's blocked his way, and an angry yell was to be heard from them.

Without hesitating, Jack took off and flew over the many yetis, only to see what had caused such a ruckus – they were all stuck to the floor, unable to move away, as if their feet was glued to the floor. Among one of the yetis were Phil, who seemed more than furious of being held captured by the floor. Hack couldn't help but chuckle at the sight of the furious yeti. It was just too good to be true. Oh how he wished it had been him who had been responsible for this, but according to the two elves hiding with an empty bucket of super glue, and a mischievous look on their faces, Jack could easily point out those who were responsible behind it all. "_Psst_ guys," Jack whispered as he was near the two elves that had created the mess, and soon caught their attention. "I think you should try to throw glitter on all those yetis, they'll be all sparkling, and I can assure you that Phil will turn extremely pretty, so make sure you give him extra glitter, okay?" The elves looked thrilled with the idea and ran off to find some glitter as fast as they could.

He grinned and continued his flight back to his room, but as he flew through the globe room, a certain voice with a Russian accent called his name. "Jack! Where you been, you been away for days!"

Jack stopped up, and turned to face the big Russian man under him. He was happy to see Jack finally have gotten back from wherever he had been the last few days – he had been really worried whether or not Jack actually would consider coming back, since he had felt how hostile Jack had become towards him over the last year, but just seeing that he had gotten back was more than he had expected.

"Oh, hey," Jack said slowly and felt his good mood slowly disappear as he landed before the Guardian. He had just wanted to head back to his room and cover himself in the snow there and talk to Baby Tooth, but apparently there was a change of plans, since North insisted on showing him something in his office. He didn't give Jack a chance to say anything since he started to talk about some project of his.

Even though Jack just wanted to go away unnoticed, he had to admit that what North said sounded a bit interesting. "You see Jack; it's going to be best invention I've created, making us able to see... No I'm not going to tell, it is surprise so it is secret, but it is a good thing. Not backfire like last invention, at least I not hope so," North seemed in an amazingly good mood while telling about his project, and Jack had to hold back a smile when North mentioned his last invention – it had caused all the yetis to turn pink and even give some of them some animal characteristics (Phil had gotten the body size of a cat and had become something of a mix between a rabbit and a giraffe), which had caused even Jack to laugh despite him being depressed. He had had such fun with Phil, with finally being the big guy, that he had almost forgot about Jamie, if it hadn't been for North saying that it finally seemed like he was over him.

As they entered North's office, they were met by a big pile of metal, cotton, cloth and tools, which filled the middle of the room. North went to it started to work on it, whatever it was, while telling Jack all about it (though not exposing what it was supposed to be able to do), when he once were done with it, Jack simply sat and listened to what he said of pure respect for the man.

During the time the two of them had spent together since the incident with Pitch (and during), they had grown a somewhat strong father-son related bond between them, which Bunny had teased Jack with when they had met by chance some years before Jamie passed away, and though the two of them were friends now, Jack hadn't been able not to turn mad at him for teasing him with it.

North screw a screw into a hole in some of the metal, as he told him it would be the best inventions he ever would have made when he once were done with it. "You see, there be nothing better than see something you working with, take form a little step at time. And then, when you're done, you'll be proud of yourself and result of what your time has been used to." He nodded towards an ice block on the desk beside Jack.

Jack raised an eyebrow before he took the ice block and started to hit it with some of the tools, which North used to make ice sculptures with, from the toolbox, unsure why North wanted to make him create ice sculptures.

The old Guardian watched with a happy smile as the young boy started to use the tools on the ice. Maybe this would be able to take Jack's mind of things? He had gotten a letter from Tooth with one of her fairies, telling him that Jack was at her place and that he shouldn't be worried, but that when Jack returned, he shouldn't mention Jamie at all, since it was dangerous waters to walk into, not that Jack shouldn't talk to someone about it, but he had to do it when he was ready for it, not when someone would force him. And North had to do as Tooth had said in the letter, he knew how much she cared for that boy, even more than North did. "Jack, remember using small, steady hits with tools – it is patience that is key to success."

Jack nodded, though he wasn't listening to a word of what the old man said – he was too focused on his ice that he didn't listen. He wanted to make a figure of Baby Tooth, and it had to be perfect, because who was more adorable than she?

North watched them with his thoughts elsewhere as he continued with his own. "Prokluatiye!" The sudden outburst from North, made Jack and Baby Tooth jump of surprise.

"Are you okay?"

North fluttered his hand before sucking on his thumb. "Da, da, just hit my thumb with the hammer," he threw the hammer on the floor, as a few elves came running with a way too large basket with first aid stuff. Jack watched as one of them started, or at least tried to, put bandages around the thumb, which more or less ended with the elf needing rescuing from the mummification it had managed to get itself involved in.

The sight made Jack chuckle, as the other elves started to untangle the mummified elf, which more or less lead to even more mummification. He honestly loved those elves and their stupid behavior, but what really made him lose it, was Phil who came into the office with two elves dangling from his one hand, while his fur was sparkling in all sorts of colors, though mostly pink, making him look like an overgrown fairy, which made him laugh like there was no tomorrow.

Phil rolled his eyes and walked to North, leaving a trail of glitter behind him, and began to explain what had happened in one of the corridors. North however didn't mind that it had happened, not after having seen the reaction from Jack. "You seem better Jack, I haven't seen you laugh since Jamie passed and…" North quickly stopped him-self, but Jack's laughter had already disappeared like a lightning from a clear sky.

"… I need to go." Jack mumbled, and was out the room before North could say anything, closely followed by Baby Tooth, who sent North a disappointed look, before she too disappeared throughout the door.

With a heavy heart North looked after the two friends. How could he have been so bold, as to mention Jamie, just as Jack had finally started to recover?

He cursed his own stupidity, and told Phil to untangle the mummified elves, not caring for the incident in the corridor, before he sat down in the big chair behind the desk, on which Jack had been sitting a few moments before. His gaze fell on the ice block Jack had been working on. He couldn't see what is was yet, but then again, neither could Jack with his project. The only thing North knew about the yet to be finished ice sculpture, was that Jack really had seemed to be concentrating about making it.

North buried his face in his hands. "Oh Manny," he said to the moon which were visible through the window even though it was only late afternoon. "What's going to happen to that kid? He's still so devastated, and it is hard for all Guardians to watch – even Bunny is worried if he will ever turn back to usual joyful self, and he usually doesn't really care for Jack, even if they _are_ friends now… But what can we do?" He sighed deeply, knowing Manny probably didn't hear him, since there was much noise from Phil and the elves behind him.

After a while he removed his hands from his face and fell back into the chair, noticing that his staff was still leaning up against the table. He had apparently been really had been upset since he had left it there, huh? He hesitated before he took the staff and started to walk towards the guestroom near the globe room, giving a few orders on his way, and he soon found himself in front of the door to Jack's room, which he k-nocked on, before entering.

The whole room was covered in layers of snow, and Jack Frost sat in the windowsill and stared blankly at the globe through the window – his eyes were blank with tears, and his body was all curled up like a big ball. Baby Tooth sat on his knee and pattered his arm, with concern in her eyes. On the window was painted a rough picture of Jamie's smiling face, like the kid he had been when they first had met him.

North joined Jack in the window sill. "Do you want to talk about it?" He asked gently and gave Jack back his staff.

Jack sighed as he took his staff, ignoring his question. Why did he have to be this sad whenever Jamie was mentioned? It had been four years, hadn't it? Who in the world was mourning for _four_ _years_? Jack closed his eye; hating himself and everything in the world. Hating that he had been reborn as a spirit. Hating that he had been so desperate with being believed in. Hated that he _had_ been believed in. He hated that he had joined the Guardians, but more than anything, he hated himself for not having been able to do anything more for Jamie. "I just miss him _so_ much," Jack whispered while fighting against the sobs threatening in his throat.

With a sad smile, North laid a hand on the young boy in front of him, trying to figure out what to say to him. He wasn't used to comforting youngsters or anybody else for that matter, so this was a challenge for him. What would Tooth do? "Well," he said after having thought for a while. "Just say whatever is on your mind, it helps talk, no?"

The young winter spirit looked at the older spirit with blank and empty eyes, fighting against him-self whether to talk about it or not to the big Russian man. He really didn't want to open the wound even more, knowing it wouldn't be pretty. But what was there to lose? He swung his staff again but once again only summoned pathetic sleet, which caused a worried look on the Guardian of Wonder's expression, but Jack just shook his head, reading nothing into it and with a heavy sigh he started to talk.


	4. Unexpected Meeting

There he was. Sitting on top of that crocked staff of his while watching the snowy world around him. He looked peaceful as he did so; his crystal blue eyes shined in the light from the sun, and the wind made his beautiful snow white hair move in the air.

From her hideout, she studied his every move, even if all he did was to sit and look at the winter scenery. She was thankful that he hadn't noticed her - she wasn't exactly hard to spot through the branches of the tree, because of her orange clothing.

When they had accidently met at the field in Germany two months ago, she had grown an interest in knowing who he was, and she had soon found out about it, thanks to her _friend_. She had to admit, that he didn't seem like he was anything like their old folk lore's, but on the other hand then she hadn't been following him that long yet, so maybe the old stories were true after all? Did he really kill kids?

A little hummingbird-like fairy flew around the guy and sang with its birdlike voice. He smiled to it and pattered its head. She couldn't hear what he was saying, but according to how the fairy reacted, he had apparently praised its song.

What are you up to, you cold one? She silently said – only moving her lips, to make sure he did not hear her. She had followed him most of the day; seen him play with kids in the streets after causing it to snow, well, he had tried to at least – it had only lasted a few minutes before it stopped again, but apparently it was better than what he had expected to happen.

The freezing wind made the branches in the tree move and apparently thought it fun to tangle them into her belts. She shivered in the cold, and cursed all that had anything to do with winter. Why did it have to be this damn cold anyway and how could he simply sit there and do nothing, while the temperature was freezing?

Of course, she shook her head over her own stupidity. He's Jack Frost. _Frost_. He's made of coldness.

When she finally got the branches untangled she took down her goggles, which made her able to see the world with infra-red radiation; sure thing, his whole body showed nothing but coldness – while the hummingbird fairy had a normal temperature. She sat the goggles in place over her forehead, making her flaming red hair get back in place.

With a sigh she let her eyes study the guy, who seemingly was her own age, at least physically, but she knew he was about 368 years older than her, while wondering how she was supposed to do what she had been told to if she ever came across that guy again. She wasn't exactly used to her powers yet, even if it had been ten years already, but was that honestly what she was worried about? To not be able to control them while all she had to do was…

A sudden movement near Jack took her thoughts away, and she carefully watched as a kid came running towards the Jack with big grin, together with a woman.

Seemed like she had to change her plans a bit.

* * *

"Jack!" The sudden exclaim shook Jack out of his thoughts and made him fall off his staff and down in the snow, but he smiled wildly when he got back on his feet and saw who was the owner of the voice.

"Hey, long time no see!" He rummaged in the boy's short black hair, which made the kid's smile even bigger, and if Jack remembered correctly that kid was called Andy and about eight years old by now. Oh boy had he grown during the last years. Had he really been away that long?

"You doing well, Jack?" Andy's mother, Sara, asked as she came near the two hugging boys. She was the spitting image of Jamie, which didn't really shock anyone since she was his daughter. She held a bag pack in her hands, which Jack assumed was Andy's, since it had Spiderman all over it.

Jack smiled, trying to hide that he actually still felt a bit down. "I'm great, thanks Sara."

She hugged him with a great smile, just happy to see him again. "We haven't seen you around since father's funeral. Are you doing okay with the whole guardian thing?" She was worried for him – when she had seen him and the other Guardians at the funeral, it was as if the young boy had lost a part of himself when her father had passed, and it had hurt her heart so terrible much to see the young boy be so devastated.

"Yeah, I'm been a bit behind schedule, but I can tell you that good old Jack here is going to be fully back in business when the month is over." He didn't mention that his powers hadn't been themselves since the passing nor that he hadn't done anything in the winter months during the past four years.

"You're really okay with knocking children's teeth out?" Sara asked jokingly as she sat down on her knees in the snow beside him. She already knew the answer.

He grinned and joining her on the ground. Though he had not planned to meet the two of them, it was nice to see them again – he had known Sara since she was born, and her kids for that matter, and she was just as fascinated about the supernatural as her father had been, probably because she knew a whole lot about the Guardians. "Sure, well, not the fact that it might hurt them, but Tooth has nothing against it, she says it's sort of fun to find a tooth by my cause."

She raised an eyebrow and looked at him with a skeptic expression, but quickly changed it to a small smile. "How is she anyway?" She asked and collected a pile of snow in front of her, starting to create a small snowman.

He shrugged and distantly scratched his cheek. "Busy as always, really enthusiastic about each tooth, but you know how she is."

Sara laughed, oh yes, she sure did. Her and Tooth had always gotten a good talk whenever they were together, and Tooth had become even more glad when she had figured that Sara had always made her two boys brush and flush three times a day, making them get pretty white teeth. Andy was soon going to lose a tooth, so they would soon get to hang out again sometime in the near future. She looked really forward to it. They were friends after all.

But she was curious, since she hadn't heard from any of them in nearly four years by now, well, except from Tooth that was, so after having glance at Jack, she started to ask him about the other Guardians.

Her question took a while to sink in, before Jack started to answer to the best of his abilities. He hadn't seen many others than North and Tooth during the past years after all; he hadn't seen Bunny in four years by now, but he knew he was doing fine, and that he probably was visiting the leprechaun or something, since there still were a few months until Easter, and Sandy was as always busy giving kids the beautiful dreams they deserved with his dream sand. When he told her about North's project she seemed really interested in it, even if Jack couldn't tell her much about it. "I honestly don't know what it's supposed to be able to do; he didn't tell me anything about that, so it's sort of a mystery to me as well."

Sara shook her head as she gave her small snowman eyes. "If North want to keep it a surprise, then it is a surprise; I'm just glad he has some hobby that doesn't have anything to do with Christmas, just imagine if he became tired of it and decided to chancel Christmas one year, because he wanted to do something else, like, I don't know, maybe take a new day in the year?"

"So what about yourself," Jack asked when she was done chuckling.

She sighed happily before she told him about everything that had happened since their last meeting. Apparently William, her oldest son, had moved to live with his father in Colorado, with whom she had gotten a divorce, and her job as a writer didn't go that well – she hadn't sold as many copies of her latest book as expected. "But you don't want to hear about me and my problems," she said with a slight smile, knowing that she would lose Jack's interest if nothing fun happened soon. She gave the snowman arms, and when she was done, Jack hit it with his staff a few times before he could finally make it move around, much to her enjoyment.

"Don't say that, I'm open to listen to whatever you want to talk about."

She shook her head, knowing that he only said that to act nice, even though she could tell that he wanted to have some fun. But there was something about the winter spirit that had made her worry for him – he didn't seem to be himself, since his smiles looked more forced than what you would have expected from a guy like him, who usually always smiled even of the smallest things. "You don't have to Jack, after all, I know you and how that little brain of yours work, besides; it seems like you're sad about something, so I don't want to burden you with my problems." she smiled and patted his back, before Andy came running with a snowball in his hands and hit Jack in the back head

The sudden attack made Jack jump up and throw a snowball against the eight-year old boy, with a huge grin on his face. He couldn't let Sara think that he was sad – it was out of the question, so to make sure she didn't think more into it, he forced himself to start a snowball fight between the four of them; Andy, Sara, Baby Tooth and himself, even though Jack had to make a magical snowflake to make Sara play with them. She hadn't been much for snowball fights when she got older, but that didn't keep him from having giving her a little push (even though his snowflakes too had become pathetic).

"We've been visiting your pond, but we didn't see you anywhere - you haven't really been home lately, have you?" Sara asked as she came running towards him with a snowball in her hands. She had been truly worried about him – normally he would at least have been home once a week, but during the past years the place had almost seemed abandoned.

He hesitated before answering, slightly unsure of what to say to that. "No, I've been living with North the past few years; it's actually nice for a change, but I doubt I'll stay there that much longer."

"Because you love being on your own?"

"Yeah!" He threw the snowball in his hand, and watched it as it exploded right in her face, making her glasses get all covered with snow, so she was unable to see anything.

She coughed to get the snow out of her mouth, and removed as much snow from her face as she could. "Why do you live there anyway?"

"Just needed some change," he said with a shrug. He didn't want to tell her that he had been down the last four years because of Jamie - he didn't want Jamie's family to know that he hadn't been himself since the funeral. That they could always count on him to make their days fun, besides, he had promised Jamie to take care of them, to make them smile when they were sad and make their friendship an adventure. He didn't intend to break that promise nor make them worried by telling them that he had basically been crying his eyes out the first months, followed by what felt like never ending sorrow for years. He had become more isolated; he had felt like he had needed to be alone forever, so why he had come to live at North's place, he didn't know. He had just suddenly a few months after, found himself on North's doorstep, with a need to be around him. He had been given the guestroom, where he had locked himself up for years, as he went through a hell of emotions: anger, denial, never ending sorrow… At some point he had been so frustrated that he had frozen half of North's workshop, including the elves and yetis, but then he had had to make up for that by unfreezing it all when North came and talked with him about it, though calling it a scolding would be more precise. That had been one of the things that had started to make Jack hostile towards North, but now, after he had talked out to North about his feelings and how much he missed Jamie, then he had begun to thaw up towards the big guy again.

But he had to admit that actually talking about it had made wonders – he hadn't been as much down since, or at least he hadn't felt like his chest saw about to be swallowed up every time someone just as much as mentioned something that was related to Jamie. But he would still find himself crying in his room, or wherever he was, when he felt like the need for Jamie was too big.

Guess that's what you can call to move on, Jack thought to himself with a sad look on his face, before getting hit by a snowball from Baby Tooth.


	5. Fairy Hunt

Jack returned to the North Pole while riding the Wind as fast as he could. It had been a month since he had been there last – he had been training his skills back up and tried to make them just as good as before, which hadn't gone exactly as he had expected; sure, he could make some decent looking snow again, and his abilities to make frost wasn't something to yell hurrah about. But at least he had gotten over most of the emotional roller-coaster he had been on the last four and a half year.

But he had to leave his 'training-camp' at the South Pole, where he had gone after the meet up with Sara and her son (she had in some way noticed that his powers weren't that good anymore, and talked him into trying to train them up again – saying that they might just be rusty) to return to the North Pole.

The Northern lights were showing on the sky.

As Jack got carried by the wind, he started to wonder what possibly could be threatening the kids now. Pitch was gone; they had made sure about that, seventy years ago, so there was no way he could be back. He was gone, being held back in a hole in the ground by his own nightmares, and wasn't able to make any threats anymore.

But Jack had to admit that he from time to time had felt pity towards the King of Nightmares, though he wasn't sure if he should be doing that – that man had tried to toss the world into darkness after all, but even though he knew that, he couldn't help himself but to still think that Pitch had been right about one thing; they had been alike. They had both been lonely; both desperately wanted to be believed in... But only one of them had gotten what they desired.

From time to time Jack found himself wondering what would have happened if he hadn't declined Pitch's offer. Not that he wanted to join Pitch, it was just that he was curious about the outcome.

Soon, the North Pole was insight and when Jack entered the globe room, all the other Guardians had already assembled.

"Alright North, what's the deal this time?" Bunny asked; his Australian accent was shivering due to lack of warmth, while he warmed his feet at the fireplace. "It can't possibly be a new Guardian again." He added and nodded towards Jack, who sat down on a table nearby.

North shook his head. "No, this time Man in Moon has not chosen new Guardian, but Tooth has serious trouble."

"Tooth?" Bunny looked surprised at the Fairy Queen; she flew around the globe, almost seeming like she was panicking over something. "What's so important that you have to call us all together?"

Tooth looked at him with big eyes that was filled with panic. She breathed quickly before continuing to study the lights on the globe. "My – my fairies!" She didn't say anything else; her speed around the globe quickened as if her life depended on studying every inch of it over and over again.

Jack noticed she held a few of her fairies on her arms, as if they could disappear every second. "Something happened to your fairies?"

With a voice filled with panic, she turned and looked at her fellow Guardians – her body trembling, and her feathers nervously ruffling. She didn't know how to say it. How could she have been so dumb to not always have them checked? "They're disappearing," she finally said with a. "They're disappearing one after one. I didn't notice it before a few weeks ago, since I've been too busy to keep count on them. They're just... _gone_."

"Hold on, hold on," Bunny said, lifting his paws up in front of him. "They can't just disappear they're fairies for crying out loud! You've probably just counted wrong or something; got all caught up in some teeth and then mistook their numbers – there're millions of them after all!"

She flew around the room, searching for even the slightest clue of her fairies. "I'm serious! I've never miscounted them before. Not once in the past thousands of years. I can't even communicate with them with telepathy." A single feather fell off her, but it didn't seem like anyone else noticed it other than Jack, since it was so small.

Oh no…

Sandy made a picture of Pitch's nightmares above his head. They all saw it. "No, Pitch been taken care of and he should be locked up with them in his lair," Bunny said, his eyes following Tooth's fanatic flying around the globe.

"What if he came back?"

They all looked at Jack with big eyes; even the yetis, which were holding plates filled with eggnog to Sandy, who had been going through his thirteenth glass of it. Sandy had stopped in the middle of one, and looked at Jack with a thoughtful expression, before he shook his head. That wasn't possible.

"Nah," North said and made a gesture with his hand. "That is impossible – Pitch cannot come back this soon; don't jinx it Jack. Besides, who tries the same plan twice?"

Tooth flew down to Jack. Her face only inches from his. "You think it's Pitch?" Her voice was low and high pinched.

"I - I don't know, it was a thought of mind."

Bunny laughed. "Aw, come on mate, it can't be Pitch! We banished him seventy years ago!"

"Then how do you explain my fairies' disappearance? Even Baby Tooth is gone!" Tooth said with tears in her eyes, and hugged her fairies even tighter into her body. They seemed like they were going to be crushed. Jack took them out of her arms, which they seemed really thankful for, and Tooth apologized to them, when she realized how much she had crushed them in her arms. Jack thoughts surrounded Baby Tooth; if she was gone…

This all explained why he had noted why there were so few fairies when he visited Tooth two months ago. It simply hadn't been a busy night after all, huh.

"Simply," Bunny said, but before he could continue, North cut in. "I have a plan." They all looked at him as he walked back and forth the room, rambling to himself before finally actually telling his plan; "What if we follow the fairies when they're out to gather teeth? That way we can protect them and find out who's taking them!"

"But Christmas is not even a month away," Bunny started. He didn't seem like enjoying the thought of getting out in the cold again when he had finally gotten some warmth. North ignored him, asking Tooth if there were any of her fairies who were going to collect some. "Sector ninety-five, Stockholm, eighty-seven teeth in total" she said but didn't seem to like risking her fairies disappearance, though the thought of the children to stop believing seemed even worse.

"Then that's where we're going," North said, and started to plan the whole thing out with Tooth.

"Why does her fairies always disappear first," Jack asked Bunny, who still stood by the fireplace, as he remembered what had happened seventy years ago, when Pitch had taken all the mini-fairies in order to make the kids stop believing. Was the story repeating itself?

Bunny rubbed his foot. "That Sheila is having the most contact with the kids through what she does on a daily basis, despite Sandy. It'll influence her the most if kids stop believing – not like with you who the kids has barely started to believe in. You could say it's an easy solution or something like that."

Jack took some eggnog from the yeti nearby, who Sandman had almost robbed all the eggnog from, as Bunny talked. He hadn't tasted it before, and he quickly learned that he shouldn't have done so. His expression made both Sandy and Bunny laugh.

North called them all together and explained the plan; they each had to follow a few of the fairies, but keep at distance. If someone noticed anything at all, they would do all they could to protect them and the other guardians would come running to help out.

They had to protect the fairies no matter what and find the criminal.

Jack jumped from roof to roof as he followed the few fairies as they did their job. He had gotten the southern part of Stockholm, while the others all were scattered out the rest of the city; Tooth to the North, Sandy to the East, North to the West and Bunny in the center.

Actually he liked it here in Sweden; the mountains, the cold wind, the sea, and not to forget, the many old houses with no isolation, which just made it even more fun to let it snow.

What? Everybody has a little sadist inside them...

He stopped when the fairies went through a window – they had gotten strict orders on not be on their own. His eyes followed them while they did their job.

Apparently Swedes did the whole Tooth Fairy thing different than in the US; here they put the tooth in a glass of water, which they put on the windowsill. If Jack remembered correctly he had heard a man tell his kid, who had just lost a tooth, the Northern European version of the Tooth Fairy - Jack found it interesting to see how humans around the world saw the Guardians. According to this man, the Tooth Fairy took the teeth and traded them for gifts. She then took the teeth to her magical castle up in the sky, where she would use it to built her castle, and make it even bigger. Sometimes she also uses them to make fairy dust so she can fly, by crushing the teeth, or simply trades the teeth for gifts to the children in Fairyland. Jack hand't been able to enjoy that story, and see the little girl's face whenever he came with a new thing the Tooth Fairy used the teeth for. He had even waited for the tooth fairies to come collect the tooth, and then waited to see the excitement of the little girl, when she found some money in the glass of water.

When the mini-fairies got out of the window, carrying a new wet tooth, and flew on to the next, he continued to stalk the fairies, house in and house out. For a whole hour, while nothing happened.

One of the fairies flew up to Jack who hid behind a chimney, while the other fairies were inside another child's bedroom, to collect yet another wet tooth.

"You okay?" He asked the fairy, who nodded. It carried a tooth in its hands. "Get back to the others; you should stay with them."

A sudden colored, light from across the city drew his attention.

Bunnymund.

He flew towards them with the mini-fairies after him. If that light had shown on the sky, it meant that he had found it! Or that he simply was in trouble, which didn't seem likely...

"Cottontail!" Jack yelled as he caught up with the Pooka.

"Jack, I've found it, it stole the fairies! It's trying to get away, and…!" He didn't get to say more, before he jumped to dodge a fireball. "Watch out for fire, mate."

Jack nodded, and, after locating whoever they were chasing, sent frost against the running figure.

"Can it!" Bunny yelled shocked and angrily. Not exactly something you would expect from someone you're trying to help out. "You want to hurt the fairies?"

"It doesn't have the fairies!" Jack yelled back, as the figure ran past a streetlight, showing a feminine body and long flaming red hair. It was a girl. "There're no fairies near that one at all!"

"Are you completely sure?"

"Yeah! Can you maybe hear any chirping?"

Something in Bunny's expression changed by Jack's respond. No he didn't hear chirping. There would be if they were there, now wouldn't there? "Well if that's the case…" He started throwing egg-bombs. The girl dodged them by suddenly shift direction. She was fast, no doubt about that. "Aw come on!" They speeded as they followed her right in the heels through city.

"Frostbite, freeze that thing!"

He didn't have to say that twice – as the girl shifted direction, and therefore slowed down, though just a little but it was enough for Jack to hit her, making her fall with a crash as she hit serial trashcans at the ground. She was about to start to run, when he hit her again – this time freezing her solid, so she couldn't move.

And there she was; standing like a deep frozen statue in the middle of a running step. Bunny and Jack approached the girl with caution and vigilance.

Jack couldn't believe it; he had actually managed to freeze her, despite his powers lagging in the powerbase! Maybe his powers had returned after all? That would be great.

Bunnymund poked the frozen girl. "Now that's something you don't see each day… Good on ya, Snowflake!"

Jack smiled, but his eyes were staring at the girl. He had seen her somewhere before, and her ability to toss fire reminded him of something. He felt a paw on his shoulder, as the overgrown kangaroo praised him for what he had done.

North, Sandy and Tooth both came to them after a while – they all looked shocked at the girl, but had all of their fairies. "Who's this?" Tooth asked and studied the girl.

Jack had seen her somewhere before.

"The one who's been pinching your fairies, mate."

Tooth looked at Bunny with big eyes, before asking him about his fairies. The once who had been with him had been taken away by the unknown girl, while Jack's fairies were sitting in his hood; they were happily greeted by Tooth, just as North's and Sandy's fairies.

After the greeting, she turned angrily towards the frozen girl. "Jack, can you please unfreeze her?"

They all looked at her surprised. "What, are you kidding me?" He almost laughed his words in disbelieve. "You know how difficult it was to catch that girl? Not to mention how much we had to chace that thing around."

Tooth's expression changed in a matter of seconds into something that didn't seem like her at all. Even her feathers ruffled. "Only enough so we can get some answers out of her. I want to know what she did to my…"

A deep laughter echoed in the air around them, and drowned Tooth's voice.

"That's impossible…" North's voice trailed off as the shadows around them started to move. The darkness surrounded them with a creepy, frightening atmosphere. They were on edge, all of them, as the echoing laughter got closer towards them – they had all drawn their weapons. There were no way in the world that this could be happening.

"Well, isn't this a surprise."

The sudden voice, behind them made them all jump away from the girl, they had gathered around. A shadow rose up behind it and out of it stepped a tall dark figure, greyish skin, silvery golden eyes, hair as dark as the night and dressed in a clothes just as dark, with a wide smile on his face.

Pitch. The Nightmare King.

"How nice to see you all again. Been seventy years, hasn't it?"

They were all shocked. How could he possibly be there? He couldn't possibly have gotten away from the nightmares.

"Pitch," North started. "What are you doing here?"

Pitched laughed silently; "oh North, how little you know." He caressed the girl on her frozen cheek. "What do you Guardians think about my newest ally? Adorable, isn't she? One of a kind, actually."

"I don't care about that," Tooth said with pure anger in her voice, completely ignoring that fact that Pitch was out, which was basically what filled the heads of her fellow Guardians. "I want my fairies back!"

"Oh?" Pitch looked at her with slight humorous surprise. "That's sad, because I don't have them. I don't know what she does with them, when she catches them. Maybe stomps them into a hole in the ground filled with their worst nightmares for decades?" He dodged her attack by disappearing into the shadows. "How horrible that must be for them."

Jack pointed his staff against Pitch, who had appeared behind him, making him jump away of surprise. "What did you do to her?" Jack asked, while being on guard. "No one with at their full senses would side with _you_." Pitch walked past the Guardians and stood beside the girl, who he once again caressed. He completely ignored Jack's question. "Pitch, I'm asking you something! What did you do, and how did you get away from the nightmares?"

He ignored him again. Only focusing on the girl by his side: "Don't you think it's silly to stay in that position, my dear Samantha?" As his words echoed around them, the ice around the girl started to thaw up, and she began to move – her yellow eyes shining in the dark.

On her lips an evil grin as she looked at Jack. "What silly skills you have."

He looked at her in disbelieve. How could someone thaw themselves up when he had deep frozen them? "How did you...?" He started but she cut him off. "You know, I thought Guardians were supposed to be, what, stronger?"

It was an insult. She actually stood and insulted him, right in front of the other Guardians! "Why you...!" North put an arm in front of him to prevent him from attacking. Something in his eyes told him to stay, and no matter how much he wanted to punch that girl in the face, he stood by. How could someone insult his powers? The other Guardians had done nothing else but to praise them, telling how impressive they were and so on. Samantha laughed, though she actually seemed a bit cold, considering a slight shivering going through her body. It seemed like she noticed Jack seeing it, because she suddenly stood on fire, as to warm herself up, but it disappeared as quickly as it has come. "Little boy doesn't want to play? What's the matter? Cat got you tongue? Or are you afraid things may get a bit _hot_ out here?"

"Don't, Frostbite, it is exactly what she wants," said Bunny with a mad glare towards Samantha, who now started to slowly insult _the Easter Kangaroo_. "That one's old," he mumbled to himself, though Jack could tell how she were provoking him as well. He remembered when he had used that insult himself when they were pointing him as a new Guardian. He still thought it was funny.

Pitch raised a hand to silence her, and she did, thank the Moon for that! "My dear Guardians," he said, as the two of them stepped into the shadowy darkness. "It was a pleasure to see you all again. May our next meeting be the last…"


	6. The Man in the Moon

The sun had started to rise when they finally began to move. They stood in the alleyway, where Pitch had shown up with, no matter how little they wanted it to be true, an ally. The trashcans still lay on the ground, knocked over from Samantha's crash. It had started to draw nearby pests to the place; rats and stray animals were now gathered around it, trying to find something to eat.

As the time went by, the Guardians simply stood there, unsure of how to proceed, who to talk first.

The water which had once been the ice on the fairy kidnapper was now nothing more than a mere puddle on the ground.

Could he have been losing his touch with deep freezing people?

A stray cat walked past him, and with a slight hit with his staff it got deep frozen. The other Guardians didn't say anything to what he had done towards the cat; they were waiting to see what would happen to it.

Nothing.

It didn't unfreeze.

He looked at his staff. Maybe it was her fire powers?

With a sudden burst, tooth shattered into quite the amount of smaller copies of herself. Since Jack didn't know she could do this sort of thing, he got extremely worried if she was about to disappear.

Some of the Tooth Fairies started to give orders to her fairies, while another one started telling her fellow Guardians what she was going to do; as long as she still had the amount of fairies she had, she would be alright, though she had to participate in going out to collect the teeth again.

Jack was confused about them. He asked her who of them were the original. All of the Fairies looked at him and said with one voice; "_me,_" before going back to what she… they… all were doing before. They flew off one by one. At the end only one remained, waiting to talk to the others about what to do now that Pitch was back. With a friend. It wasn't good.

"What do you think he wants?" She asked worried. Jack was still unsure if this one was the original Tooth or no.

"Hmpf, same as last time I suppose; world domination." Bunny said with his arms crossed while he stood with his shoulder against the wall. His eyes were pointing towards where Pitch and Samantha had disappeared. His expression was hard and he seemed troubled in his thoughts as he played with one of his boomerangs. "I just don't understand how he got away from those nightmares of his."

"You don't say. Should it even be possible?" Jack asked, poking his staff on the yet frozen cat, tilting it over so it lay helplessly on the side like a frozen statue.

Sandy shrugged and made a question mark above his head, followed by a picture of the moon.

Bunny snorted but agreed to ask Man in the Moon. He got North and Tooth in on what Sandy had suggested (they hadn't seen it), before North opened a portal to the Pole with no questions asked. Tooth didn't come with them. She told them she had to go back to the Tooth Palace, in case Pitch wanted to attack there just like last; she had to protect her teeth. They understood, telling her to take care of herself, and she flew off just before the four males went through the portal, right into the globe room, where yetis ran around in a hurry to get ready for the big holyday coming up, less than a month away.

Jack had always admired the place, and due to him being locked up in the guest room, he hadn't seen how the Pole worked due to the nearby deadline. The yetis were running around like crazy, even in the globe room.

When the Guardians stood around the big 'G' on the floor, the moon showed on the sky above them.

"Manny, Pitch is back," North started, staring up at the moon high above him. "He has an ally, a girl, who is she? What's going on?"

The moon let a beam of light shine towards the ground. Shadows started to form in the light.

"Yep, he goes for world domination again," Bunny said with a shrug.

"No, no," North waved a hand towards the Pooka, correcting what he saw in the light. "He says the girl is the key."

Bunny snorted as if he had just heard a silly joke. "A key to what?"

"He don't say."

With an irritated glare against the moon, Bunny started to walk around the room for quite a while, before he stopped and looked at the moon once again. "Come on, can't you at least be more specific? Stop speaking in those bloody riddles of yours." The moon didn't answer. It almost seemed like it was amused by the frustration in the Easter Bunny. But at some point it made a shadow of... something. Most of all it looked like some deformed faces...

"What is that?" Jack asked, feeling like they were all participating in another game of _guess what Sandy says_. Why couldn't Man in Moon simply tell them what they wanted to know, instead of making shadow pictures, like he had done when he had named Jack that night almost four hundred years ago?

"Who knows, doesn't really look like anything else than some deformed dials," Bunny said as he looked at the shadows on the ground. "Are you sure he isn't gutted?" A glare from North made him shut up.

Sandy was studying the shadows, but he didn't understand them either.

"What are you trying to say Manny?" North asked the moon, but there were no answers. Only silence, as the moon disappeared from the sky.

The four males just stood there, not one bit smarter on what was going on. "Well, that went well," Jack said sarcastically as he sat on top of the globe, looking at the Guardians under him. This was another reason why he didn't like the Man in the Moon. Always so short on words, it was annoying.

"Well, we have to figure what the shadows mean," North said, his gaze still at where the moon had been just a few moments earlier. "But at least now we know Man in Moon knows about the girl, only question is; who is she?"

"We still don't know, thanks to Man in the Moon," Jack said frustrated. He wanted to know _who_ she was, _what_ she was doing with Pitch and _why_ she had chosen his side. Was that too much to ask? "And shouldn't he like _know_ about her? Didn't he _make_ her?"

North let his palm glide down his face; he seemed just as frustrated as Jack felt. But he nodded to answer Jack's questions. Yes, she was Man in Moon's creation, no wonder about that. A moment of thoughtlessness and the youngest of the Guardians were at his neck. But it didn't matter now, he knew what Jack still was fighting with, despite he made a good job not showing it. That was always a start.

"Honestly, I don't think Manny's quite sure what's going on," Bunny said as he watched North go back and forth. "Why else would he have given us this sort of an answer?"

With a sigh, North sat down in one of his many giant armchairs you could find in every room. Seriously. _Every_ _room_. "I think Bunny's right," he said with his head resting in his hands. "I don't think he knows either, or at least he's not quite sure."

They all stood there for a while, before starting to part ways.

Bunnymund went to the Tooth Palace through a portal he got from North to check up on Tooth (he had gotten an extra in order to be able to get down from there again). Sandy flew away on a giant dragon he had made out of dream sand to spread some sweet dreams, while Jack simply stayed put on top of the globe. There was no need for him to leave since he still sort of had occupied the guest room some floors above him.

After a while, Jack watched as North rose up and started to do, what the Santa had to do to prepare Christmas – prepare presents for the children.


	7. No Time for Fun

The weight of the presents which fell over Jack, was enough to give him problems with digging himself out of them. He had accidently crashed into one of the many yetis, who carried whole mountains of gifts in their arms, while helping out North with the last preparations for Christmas. The winter spirit had been flying around like crazy, while trying to make pranks on the yetis and elves. No big ones, to not slow them down way too much, but just a little to try to keep up the spirit since they were a bit behind the schedule.

Jack had made small frost monsters jump out everywhere to scare the elves. Made the floor slippery for the yetis, and used his powers to make some of the yetis play instead of work. He had even made a lot of other pranks, which was too complex to explain.

Making a bit of trouble wasn't a bad thing, right?

One of the yetis, Phil, had fallen for one of Jacks pranks by slipping in one of the many ice puddles on the floor. It had resulted in him chasing Jack around the workshop, leading to rampage wherever the two of them passed.

Jack had been laughing under the whole chase, trying to make traps for Phil to slow him down. At some point it seemed to have worked, but he had been wrong; the yeti had jumped over the pile of gifts and was chasing Jack faster than ever. Jack had been laughing like crazy over the expression in the yeti's face, and hadn't seen the other yeti right in front of him, carrying a ton of presents.

The winter spirit had crashed right into it and been buried under the presents resulting in much laughter from the surrounding yetis and elves.

When he finally got pulled out, by the leg, he was met by an angry Phil.

"Oh hey Phil," Jack said, trying both to sound and look innocent by blinking with his big eyes and make an innocent smile. Phil snorted and carried Jack in a stretched arm, as far away from his staff as possible, which Phil held in the other hand. Jack tried to reach it, but it was too far away.

He cursed the fact that he couldn't use his powers without it. He hated being powerless, even if it was only against the yetis.

While being carried through the workshop, he tried to talk the yeti into letting him go, but it had no effect. Phil just grunted.

After a while, Phil let go of Jack, making him bump down on the floor, head first, not giving him his staff. As Jack moaned over the pain in his head and started to rise up, the first thing he saw before his eyes was a pair of big leather boots.

He swallowed as his gaze met the big man's eyes in front of him. He wasn't happy.

"Hey North," Jack started innocently as he stood up. He was a bit nervous for what the old man would do or say, but he hoped for the best. "Quite a busy workshop you've got here." He smirked tryingly. But no smiles were to spot on the face of the Guardian of Wonder.

"Yes, really busy, do you know why?" The Russian accent didn't have a hint of fun in it.

"Because you're behind schedule," Jack said, trying to sound like it was no big deal, though he knew what was coming.

The big man nodded and crossed his arms. "Yes, and what is it, I wonder, that is slowing everything down even more? Something that's small and cold. Maybe something that has been occupying guest room for last four years? You know someone like that?"

"No idea who that might be."

North sighed heavily as he started to go back and forth. Jack hadn't noticed before, but Phil, who stood by the door, had apparently walked right into North's office and dropped him there. The big pile of junk on the floor had started to take form, yet Jack still couldn't tell what it was supposed to be. Jack's ice block still lay on the desk in the far end of the room near the big window, and the whole room were decorated with so much Christmas decorations it was almost impossible to see the walls. But it was stylish at the least. "Jack, you know how busy I am, only two days to Christmas, and in some countries they even celebrate it on different dates. There are different traditions, where some actually needs me to come the 24th December to give the children their presents while they're still awake. I don't have time for your pranks." Jack rolled his eyes. All he did was to have a little fun, while trying to keep North's helpers spirits high. He hadn't done anything wrong. Okay he had wanted to make some troubles, but he couldn't halp it; he was the Guardian of _fun_. He was supposed to have fun. "Jack, I would like of you to go. Your present does not help with preparations."

Jacks eyes widened. "Are you asking me to _leave_?" He couldn't believe it.

"You've made us get way too behind with the schedule," North said; his voice strict and hard. "You've just caused us to get five days of extra work; we have less than _two_!"

"But…!" Jack started, but North raised a hand. No discussing it.

Jack snorted. So he had to leave because he had some fun. He would've said he could help fixing it, but by the look in North's face he could tell he wasn't wanted there anymore. "Fine," Jack said. "At least let me get my stuff before you throw me out." He didn't have that many belongings actually. All he owned was the little nesting doll North had given him when he had found his center, an old drawing of the sleigh ride Jack had given Jamie many years ago before the whole Pitch affaire (Jamie had added Jack on it, when he had found out that it had been him who had been responsible for _the_ _freaky sleigh ride_, as Jamie always had called it, which had resulted in him losing a tooth), and then of course his staff. That was it. That was all he owned.

He had them placed at the table beside the bed, the doll and the drawing. Phil still had his staff.

North opened one of the big windows when Jack had gotten his stuff, and when Phil had given Jack back his staff, Jack jumped out the window, no saying goodbye. None of the habitants of the North Pole looked to see if Jack was crashing or not. They had faith in his abilities to fly, or maybe they simply didn't care...

* * *

Jack was creating blizzards. He had nothing else to do. He flew around Europe creating as much snow as he possibly could. He was angry.

After he had been thrown out by North, he hadn't wanted to return to the North Pole, and he didn't plan to do so. Ever. He had met North by accident when he had been out with presents, but just one glare from him, had been enough for Jack to keep his distance. North was still mad at him.

The winter spirit was fine with it. He was used to be alone, and it wasn't like he cared for how North felt towards him, nor that he cared about having to live by himself again. It had nothing to do with the way Jack felt now.

Absolutely. Nothing. At. All.

With anger of what had happened some days ago, Jack held his staff high above him into the air. He was summoning as many clouds he could, while making the temperature drop really quick. The wind came strong and freezing, and as Jack finally let the deep black clouds let go of their snow it fell quick and heavy, while being carried faster and faster by the wind. The snow fell as far as Jack could see into the horizon, over the small Scandinavian country, Denmark. Those Danes who still were outside, trying to start some firework to celebrate New Year's Eve, quickly ran inside their houses giving up every thought about firework, as Jack let his monster of a blizzard unfold above around him. The snow quickly piled up on the ground, covering the flat country with his white ice cold snow. He swung his staff, letting the temperature drop even more.

Angrily he told the wind to blow more and more, and he wanted this blizzard to go crazy; out of control. This was how he felt. This blizzard symbolized it.

**_BOOM!_**

An explosion of colors from a runaway rocket exploded in front of Jack and knocked him out.

He started falling crashing down from the sky.

His staff ripped away by the wind.


	8. Gone

**I know it's short, but I really couldn't make it fill more, and this one might not be as good as the other chapters, but at least it's something, no?**

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Darkness. That was the first thing he noticed when his consciousness began to return. It was dark and his whole body hurt like hell. Yet he felt strangely… warm? The temperature around him was really, really warm. It was almost unbearable.

He couldn't remember what had happened. All he knew was than one moment he was caught up creating a blizzard and the next… darkness.

He slowly opened his heavy eyes.

Something extremely warm sat nearby.. He didn't know who or what it was, since his vision was so blurry that he barely couldn't see anything, but before he fell back into unconsciousness, a voice told him to go back to sleep since he needed to recover. Whether it was friendly or not, he couldn't tell, but he did as it said.

When he woke up again, the warmth was gone. And so was the source of the voice.

He lay on an old mattress in what seemed to be a playhouse. There were cracks at the door and through the windows, where one was broken, making the cold winter wind blow through. It seemed his blizzard had ended. He was thankful that he couldn't freeze.

How long had he passed out? But more importantly; how in the world had he ended up in the playhouse?

His whole body arched as he slowly sat up, moaning over the pain in his body. By reflex he let his hand reach out for his staff. Searching as far as it could reach. It wasn't there.

Shocked over this realization, he stood up, too quickly, which made his sore body collapse under him. Where could it be? He looked feverishly around in the small playhouse, but it was nowhere to be found.

He panicked.

"Oh no!" He exclaimed and tried to stand up but had to be supported by the walls. He had to get it back. If it had gotten away in the storm, then he would never find it! He would be powerless for the rest of his immortal life!

He went through the door and out to the open. The sky was blue and cloudless, but the wind was fresh and cold, and on the ground lay almost one meter of snow..

Great, did I really _have_ to create that much snow? Jack mumbled angrily to himself. He would never be able to find his staff now. He didn't even know if this place was anywhere nearby where he had created the blizzard. It would take months, if not years to find it again, if he could get lucky enough to actually manage to do so.

Oh God, I just wish it hasn't ended up in the sea. He silently begged the Moon that this wasn't the case, cause of it was then it would've been lost forever.

Jack walked on top of the snow – one of the things he was thankful he was able to do without his staff, as he started to walk around in the frozen garden.

A child's voice yelled nearby, making Jack quickly look for the source. A child stood in the window of the house, whose playhouse Jack had woken up in, and pointed directly at him. It could see him.

Though his body sored and still felt like collapsing, he started to run away. He didn't want to play now, nor explain who he was, as long as he didn't have his staff.

He jumped over the fence and ran away from the house, soon realizing he was in a city. He cursed that he was powerless and began to run around looking everywhere for even the smallest sign of his beloved staff.

But as time went by, there were no sign of it.


	9. Act of Kindness

Jack sat on a bench under a streetlight, at the outer areas of the city during the night, with his head between his legs. He had searched everywhere throughout the city and the areas around it, and it had taken him over three weeks to do so, but thanks to his snow, there was no way he would be able to find his staff before it had melted. And that could take months.

He felt like crying. Just like when Pitch had cut his staff in half so many years ago. But he had been able put it back together at least. Now was different. He didn't even know if he was in the same country as his staff was.

_My staff is gone forever…_

The thought had crossed his mind countless times during the last weeks, but he had always pushed it aside. He declined to accept it.

But as it looked now, it seemed like it was true.

Never before had he been apart from his staff this long, and the thought of him being as powerless as a mortal for the rest of his immortal life was too much for him to bear. He didn't like it. He hated it. He felt utterly powerless. It was horrible. How could mortals even live like this? Being so helpless all the time?

He threw his head backwards and screamed of frustration up into the sky, while tears started to roll down his cheeks. He was crying.

He knew it was silly. He knew that a 387 year old teenager shouldn't cry over losing an old staff. But he couldn't help it. He felt utterly helpless. And that staff meant something for him; he had saved his sister's life by using it.

Something shot across the sky, coming right towards Jack with high speed; it was first when it landed some meters away from Jack, he noticed it.

He quickly dried his cheeks, trying to cover up his cry, while watching carefully whatever it was; he couldn't see it in the dark, but he felt intense warmth coming from it.

"Who are you?" He yelled to the figure, his voice broke by the sobs he tried to hold back. "What do you want?"

There was no answer.

As the figure came closer, the warmth got more intense. At some point it felt like it was melting the cold in his body.

It stopped by the edge of the darkness, hesitating to enter the light.

"Who are you?" Jack yelled again. He felt on edge. Who could possibly make such intense warmth just by being present? Whoever it was, he was ready to fight if he had to, even without his staff. If it was Pitch, then with all cause…

The figure stepped into the light, this time without hesitation.

"You!" The word came out with pure disbelieve. What was _she_ doing _here_?

Samantha didn't say anything or even moved for that matter. Her pilot goggles sat over her eyes, making her hair move exactly like flames in the air.

"Have you come to fight me?" Jack said, and stood up, ready for whatever blow the girl would make. If she wanted a fight, then he would give her a fight.

She sighed and walked further into the light. In her hands, she held his staff. He stiffed when he saw it, looking at her with anger in his eyes. Why did she have it? She didn't say anything; she only began to walk around him, studying him from all directions.

He felt on edge. Where had she found it? But more importantly; what was she up to?

"You seem to be missing something…" His eyes followed her, as she said the words, in a mysterious tone. "I wonder what that could be."

"Give me my staff," he said, reaching out for it, but she jumped out of his reach. She laid the staff across her shoulders and draping her arms from it.

"It's remarkable how you can't use your powers when you don't have this staff, Jack." Her words were insinuating as they escaped her lips, almost being said like a song. She began her wander around him at the edge of the light beam from the streetlight, like a predator around it's pray.

"Who says I can't?" Jack asked on guard, trying to look more terrifying than he was. Why didn't she attack him and get over with it?

She giggled shortly. "Seriously? It was Pitch of course. He's a fascinating man, really, a good man."

"Pitch is many things," Jack said, as he jumped against her to take back the staff, but she managed to get out of his reach once again. "But he is _not_ good."

"Oh?" She continued her wander, keeping her distance from him, making sure he couldn't snatch the staff back from her. "That's where you're wrong Jack."

"Then tell me why!" She didn't answer to that. Her only reaction was a slight snare at the corner of her mouth, as she kept her wander around him going.

She stopped after a while and tilted her head before asking; "what would happen if it got broken in half?" Her voice was serious, no hint of a joke; she literally wanted to break his staff.

"Give it back!" He yelled and threw himself against her. He didn't care if the temperature of her skin felt like it was burning him up; he just wanted his staff back, before she'd break it. He tried to rip it out of her hands, but she kicked him in the stomach, sending him flying back.

"Now, what sort of behavior was that, little one?" She asked, standing leaning in above him, his staff out of reach. He sat in the snow coughing and hold his arms around his stomach. The temperature around them was way too warm for him to stand – it even melted the snow nearby. How could one person make so much warmth just by being present? "I was simply asking a question, but I know you can put it back together, so it wouldn't matter it I did it or not, and before you ask; yes, Pitch told me what happened back then." She kicked him in the side, making him hit the ground in the yet melting snow. He moaned of pain.

She sat herself on the bench, watching him as he recovered with a grin on her lips.

Jack cursed her. He cursed everything about her. He just wanted to walk away. But he needed his staff.

To quite the surprise for Samantha, Jack got up as quick as he could, pushing the staff off the girl's shoulders and got a grip of it. She moved almost just as fast as he had, using her whole weight to pinning him to the ground, holding his hands on his back and his staff out of reach. The snow had melted into water, making it hard for Jack to breathe, as she held his head against the ground, plus the weight against his bag made it even more difficult. Her temperature felt like she burned him up.

"You know…" Something in her voice had changed – she almost sounded hurt. "_I_ found your staff."

"Then why *cough* don't you give it back?" He yelled. "If you want to kill me, then why not simply do it and get over with it?"

She sighed annoyed. "You think I came here just to kick your butt? Give me a break! Why should I have searched my ass off all over this country to find your staff, knowing it's the source for your powers, yet come to _you_ with it, when I simply could've killed you while you were unconscious or in the weak state you're in right now?" She yelled the last part with anger. He troubled turned his head to watch her. Her facial expression seemed frustrated and almost sad, though the goggles covered most of her face. Now when she mentioned it, it did seem weird that she had come to him with his staff in her possession, when he was most weak and vulnerable. She hadn't attacked right on sight, but instead teased him with doing it. Like a game. With an angry grunt, she rose up, letting go of him and threw his staff on the ground. She shook her head over the expression he made – confusion while being on guard. "You disappoint me Jack… Who would attack someone who's not able to fight back? That's only what cowards do…" As she walked away, Jack gripped his staff, feeling the relief of having it in his possession once again, though the still warmth from where her hands had been holding it made it feel weird.

"I might not be an ally, but I am no thief."

Jack looked at her before she disappeared into the night, as a shooting star towards the sky.


	10. Humanoid Nightmare

**Okay, I honestly don't know how good this chapter is, like with the previous two chapters - I've had a hard time writing those...**

** Anyway, I'll try to make the following chapters … I don't know - more "revealing-Pitch's-big-plan"-like or something?**

**So yeah, let me know what you think of the story by reviewing, 'kay? ;I**

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Jack sat in the melted snow with his eyes following the fire spirit, who were yet visible on the late night sky. In his hands he held his precious staff. He was overjoyed of having it in his possession once again, but he couldn't help but wonder just why she had given it back to him nor searched the whole country to find it. It seemed weird for someone who weren't your ally to come to your aid when you needed it.

It was just ... odd.

After a moment of considering, he let the wind carry him up into the sky, and flew after the fire spirit, quickly shortening the distance between them while beginning to feel the heat she radiated. How could a single person emit this much heat? It was unbelievable!

When he was almost close enough to be able to reach her, she noticed his presence and turned to look at him with a warning expression on her face. "Get any closer and I'll kill you!" Her voice was deeply serious, no hint of joking at all. They both stopped their flight.

"Easy there, I just wanted to talk," Jack said, holding his hands above his head, with a smile on his face. Best way to get information was to try out with being friendly first, no?

She grunted angrily, apparently fighting back her need to hit him in the head. "What do you want?" She hissed her question, no hiding her frustration over the sudden friendliness towards her, though they weren't what even reminded of being allies.

Jack's smile got wider when she asked the question. Being friendly always worked. "Just wanted to know why you gave me back my staff, when I'm obviously no ally of yours." He said it with his wide smile on his face, trying to act as casual and friendly as he could, ignoring the way too hot temperature emitting from her. It felt like it was burning away his coldness, though they were four meters apart.

Her jaws tightened, but she didn't answer.

Jack just hung there in the air, waiting patiently for her response with a friendly smile on his face. He couldn't help but feel uncomfortable – the temperature was too high!

Finally, after what seemed like forever, she spoke thin-lipped, "I thought I told you already; I'm no thief, and I have no intention of keeping anything that is not mine to keep."

He tilted his head with a curious look on his face, trying to ignore the sweat that had started to take form on his skin. "Sure, but I just don't understand _why_?"

An annoyed sigh escaped her mouth. Her hands moved like she wanted to kill him right on the spot. "Does everything have to have a meaning to it? I just did it because I found it the right thing to do."

That was not the answer he wanted. He wanted to know what her intentions was, what she had been thinking … if there was a chance to gain some information about Pitch and his plans, without her realizing she's exposing them, he would take it. "I just don't understand why you help someone who's not on your side?"

She seemed troubled of what to say and do. Her mouth opened and closed as if she wanted to say something, but regretted it and closed it, over and over. When she finally seemed to have decided what to do and say, an evil grin appeared in her face, while fire started to take form around her hands as giant whips. She started to laugh. "I can't attack someone unarmed, now can I?" She quickly started to whip her whips against him from every possible direction, which he only dodged by the wind throwing him out of the way. He thanked it and quickly threw a beam of frost her way.

Her grin got wider as she dancingly dodged it and the following attacks from Jack, who tried his best to not give her a chance to use the whips.

"That's the best you can do?" She yelled as she sent her whips after Jacks head when she got an opening, hitting him on his cheek. He let out a scream when the heat started to burn away his skin and the blood started dripping. It hurt like hell. "You disappoint me, Frost!"

He held his hand against the cheek, trying to use his cold to ease the pain, while swinging his staff against the fire spirit who easily dodged it and counterattacked with another hit with her whips across his leg, making him moan of the following pain. At least it didn't bleed as much as his cheek did. "I can do better than that!"

She made and evil laughter as she sent her whips against him once again. "I doubt that! I can't believe why the Man in the Moon chose _you_ of all the spirits out there! Even a house elf could do better than you!"

He dodged her whips but her words filled him with anger. He was proud of being a Guardian, and loved every moment of it, even though he at first hadn't wanted to have anything to do with the responsibility at all, and hadn't agreed with the Man in the Moon's decision of making him one, thanks to the 300 years of silence toward him. But now, after seventy years of being a Guardian, he loved it. No doubt about that.

With a frustrated yell he called the snow from the clouds around him to his aid, and sent it against her, surrounding her like a giant snowball. He quickly called upon the wind, which hit against it as freezing as possible, making it keep its ice cold temperature.

He heard her frustration of being trapped, and watched as the snow lighted up wherever her whips hit it from the inside as she tried to get out. The hits with the whips got more and more intense and he fought against the risk of it melting, but after what seemed like an hour, a scream sounded from within, and the ball went silent.

Jack didn't stop sending the wind against it. Not at first anyway.

"You're giving up?" He yelled towards the flying snowball. There was no answer. He asked the same question again, but there were still no response. He stopped the winds blowing and neared the ball with caution. Something didn't seem right, but if this was a trap, then he was ready for whatever she had planned. "Are you in there?" He asked on guard, trying to keep his distance, but he had to check what was going on. "I'm not falling for your tricks!"

There was still no response. With a slow movement he removed some of the snow to be able to peek inside, but he saw nothing but a faint dark figure curling up in center radiating a weak heat. He couldn't completely see her figure due to the lack of light.

He watched her for a long time with his staff pointing against her in case she wanted to attack. "What did you do with the tooth fairies?" He questioned threatening. He wanted the answers, and he wanted them now. No fights or trouble, only answers. She seemed to stiffen when he spoke. "Where are they?"

A faint response sounded from the black figure, but he didn't understand the language she spoke.

"Tell me!" He yelled to her, but she kept on mumbling. He wanted to know the answer to help out Tooth. He had seen her a single time by chance, when he had run around searching for his staff. Or one of her copies that is. She had seemed so busy and exhausted that she had barely been able to keep up with the tooth collecting, not to mention to talk to Jack in a language he understood – she had talked in something that had sounded like Korean, before she had realized he didn't understand and continued in English. She hadn't seemed to be able to keep her eyes open much longer, nor realized that Jack hadn't had his staff; something she usually would have noticed, like if Bunny forgot his boomerangs or North forgot his swords whenever he was out. She had even looked quite worn to shadows, due to her lack of feathers here and there. Jack couldn't let her continue like that – he had to do something. "If you don't tell me, then I'll freeze you to death!"

She stopped mumbling, and looked up at him with big yellow eyes, making him jump back of shock when he realized the difference in the appearance. Was that a… _humanoid nightmare_?

"Fuck you." Its voice sent a chill down his spine, but he ignored it, jumping out of the way as it sent a mouthful of fire against the hole he had been looking through. Just what was that thing?

He looked at it with shock through the hole again. He couldn't believe his own eyes; a humanoid nightmare with its own intelligence and powers. Just what had Pitch been up to the past few decades?

A heavy sigh sounded from the nightmare as it realized he kept staring at him. "You got a problem, Frost?"

His eyes widened when he realized it was still the girl. The only difference was that now, her whole body seemed to be made of nightmare sand. "You're a nightmare?"

It didn't answer, but only sat and looked at him with its big yellow eyes filled with hatred, shining in the cold dark. Suddenly it looked away, seeming to tense and held its breath as a hint of fear started to spread around them.

Pitch.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" The voice of the Nightmare King sounded around them; they were unable to figure from what direction though. It was as if it came from the darkness itself. "My little nightmare, trapped in a simple snowball? How disappointed I am to see this. I got to give you some credit for that Jack, though the wounds on your body, shows that it wasn't easy." Jack felt a creepy hand touch his hurt cheek, making him give an unwilling moan, before turning around to attack. There was nobody there.

"Pitch…" The voice of the humanoid nightmare said, almost sounding afraid. "I'm sorry, I …"

Pitch's voice sounded again. "Oh, you're sorry are you; sorry of what I wonder? That you disobeyed my orders? Took home without getting permission? I'm so very disappointed in you." Jack turned around, as Pitch's voice manifested at one point, directly behind him; his back towards Jack, and his eyes strictly pointing into the hole in the snowball. "I've been searching a lot for you, you know. But I figured you would go visit your family, or did you come here and help Jack Frost give back his staff after his big blizzard?"

"No, I just –"

Pitch raised a non-existent eyebrow and her words fell silent. He turned around, looking at Jack. "Jack, my dear, I'm so glad you've been away for the last month; it has made my work so much easier, especially with help from this lovely girl." He gestured towards the snowball, where the nightmare looked out – its eyes never leaving the Nightmare King for one second. Was his own nightmare afraid of him?

Jack held his staff ready to attack if there was even the slightest hint of Pitch wanting to attack. "What have you done this time?" Jack asked, fearing whatever he might've done this time.

Pitch didn't answer, but instead gave him a smile, before putting his arm into the snowball and pulled out his nightmare by the hair. He threw it down on his cloud of black sand under him, making a moan when it hit.

"_What did you do_?" Jack yelled.

"Don't talk to him like that," the nightmare exclaimed as it sat up, looking at him with its yellow eyes. A smile formed on Pitch's lips, as the nightmare slowly started to take back its previous colorful form. The red hair started to show on the nightmare's head and started moving like flames once again. "He's a good man, and he doesn't deserve to be spoken to in that tone! You guardians should be ashamed of what you did to him!"

"You only say that because you're a nightmare!" Jack yelled back, not realizing how big the smile on Pitch's face had become.

She was about to open her mouth, but Pitch stopped her by letting black sand cover her mouth. It only disappeared after Pitch had spoken. "Now, now, my dear, if that is what he thinks about you, then let him think that about you; it makes things much easier." She looked up at Pitch with her big yellow eyes glowing. Her face was starting to look like it had done previously, before she had been surrounded by the snow – skin had started to show, giving her a creepy look between a half human, and half nightmare.

Jack looked at them with a confused look. "What's much easier?"

"Oh, you'll see soon enough." Pitch said – his hand gently touching the flaming hair of the nightmare by his side. "But I'm afraid we can't stay much longer, we have such a busy schedule; dreams, hope and wonder to destroy…" Jack swung his staff and sent his attack towards Pitch, interrupting his words, but he attack was blocked by black sand. Pitch made an evil grin; "You really thought a direct hit would work on _the Boogeyman_? Well, we can't have that you would try to follow us into the shadows, now can we little winter spirit?"

Before Jack had a chance to react, black sand shot out from the sand cloud and covered Jacks body completely, from the neck down – he wasn't able to move.

"Let go of me Pitch!" Jack yelled as he tried to wrench himself free of the black sand, only resulting in it getting tighter around his body. "You son of a – !" Black sand covered his mouth before he could complete his sentence.

"Watch your language Jack; you're a Guardian of _Children_!"

Jack stared angrily at him, yelling all sorts of curses against him, though they were muffled by the black sand over his mouth.

"What was that?" Pitch asked with a hand behind his ear as the black sand pulled Jack towards the sand cloud. Once it held him right in front of Pitch, the Nightmare King held a hand under Jack's chin, making him look him in the eyes. The touch of the grey hand felt like a touch of a nightmare, spreading it fear into Jack's body. "I'm sorry Jack, I can't seem to understand what you're saying, it's like something is hindering your ability to speak."

Jack told him to go to hell, but his muffled words only caused laughter from the two allies.

"I'm sorry Jack, but I'm very busy; I don't have time to play with you today. I'll see you later…" Pitch gave Jack a slight puff, making him lean over the edge of the big sand cloud. Jack tried to get free and call for help, but the sand only tightened even more, making him moan when it started to hurt, and the sand over his mouth didn't help. "Maybe."

As the last word was said, Jack fell over the edge of the black sand cloud, head first. He tried to scream, but the sand over his mouth kept his scream muffled.


	11. The Deformed Faces

**This isn't the best chapter I've made, I'll admit it anytime. Had a hard time dealing with Jack's behavior, his and North's conversation and the atmosphere between them, I just think it ended out rather… odd or something. I don't know…**

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Jack tried to scream for help as he went crashing towards the ground under him, but the black sand made it close to impossible to get a sound out and move, not to forget to breathe, which had become as good as impossible. He felt like he should pass out of lack of air.

The wind tried desperately to help the winter spirit it cared so much about, though little did it help, and the lights from the city under the falling spirit quickly closer and closer as he quickly fell towards it.

So this was how he was supposed to die? By falling towards the ground by the hands of Pitch?

He made a last try of getting out of the dark sand, but only got more squished by it, and instead gave up and closed his eyes; ready for the impact which he knew would kill him.

But he felt nothing. The wind had stopped blowing and he couldn't feel an impact at all. Was he already dead?

Slowly he opened his eyes, only to stare directly into the eyes of the Guardian of Dreams – Sandy. He looked worried and questioning at Jack, but had already started turning the black sand into his own golden dream sand. Once he had freed Jack, Jack fell down on Sandy's big cloud of golden sand under him, gasping for air, and moaning over the pain in his rips – the sand had squished him so much that he wondered if he had gained a few pressed ribs.

"Thanks Sandy," Jack said thankfully, when he finally had recovered from the lack of air, happy to see that Pitch hadn't touched this Spirit this time around. In his mind, Jack thanked the moon for Sandy having been spreading his dreams in the area and therefore been there to save him.

The older spirit smiled and gave him thumbs up, but then made a question mark above his head, asking what had happened. Jack hesitated. He wasn't sure what exactly had been going on, and he was still trying to figure if he simply hadn't dreamt about the humanoid nightmare. "Pitch." That was the only answer he gave.

Sandy looked at him with a raised brow, waiting for a more deepening response. He knew it had been Pitch's doing alright; he just wanted to know exactly _what_ he had been doing. The younger spirit hesitated again. Unsure of what exactly to say. Sandy seemed to notice, and laid a hand on Jack's shoulder, making a picture above his head of North.

"I'm not going to talk to North, Sandy; he doesn't want me there, he threw me out and… What do you mean it's my own fault?" Jack asked as he read the images above Sandy's head.

The older spirit laid his arms across and looked up at the young winter spirit, waiting for him to realize what he meant. Jack frowned, but then stood up with a smile on his lips. "Come on Sandy, all I did was to have some fun, and it seemed like North and the yetis could use a bit of that."

Jack picked up his staff and turned around realizing just how close it had been before he had hit ground. Gosh, he was thankful that that little guy hadn't showed up sooner than he did – they were only a few meters above ground. "Where are we anyway?" Jack asked the older spirit. During the last month he hadn't been able to figure where he was which had been a rather big frustration for him, despite the panic that had filled him since he hadn't been able to find his staff.

An image of the country formed above Sandy's head – it most of all looked like a load of… deformed heads?

"Wait…" Jack said, realizing something. Those deformed heads... was a country? The same country the Man in the Moon had showed them back then?

Sandy looked confused at Jack, since he didn't continue his words, making Sandy look up at what he had formed above his head, wondering if he had made the answer too hard for him to understand. He quickly changed the picture into the name of the country, not realizing that it was the answer to Jacks question.

_Denmark_.

Jack couldn't believe it; he had been in the country with all the answers from the Man in the Moon all this time, not realizing it. The only question, however, just _what_ was they supposed to be looking after? Even though Jack had enough geographical knowledge (which he had managed to obtain throughout his travels around the world) to know how small the country was, he still knew it was a flat land, mostly only created of islands and even though it was small, it could take forever to find whatever it was the Man in the Moon wanted them to find. "Seems like I need to go see North anyway," Jack said with a slightly annoyed mime. He hated that he had to go see the Guardian of Wonder, but he knew that he had to tell the other Guardians of his discovery of the meaning of the deformed heads, though he didn't know what good it did that they knew what country. They still didn't know what to look for.

Jack's frown was quickly replaced with a smile, when Sandy created a golden dolphin and made it jump around Jack. He laughed, thanking the older spirit for cheering him up. Sandy smiled; happy to see the smile on Jacks lips, but then made a picture of Pitch and Jack above his head together with a question mark, while pointing at Jack's wounds.

The young spirit shook his head. "It's nothing Sandy, I was just careless." To not worry his friend more, he quickly changed subject. He didn't want to cause worry nor make it seem like he couldn't take care of himself. "All I know is that we're one step closer to figure what's so special about that ally of Pitch's – it has something to do with this country, and I'm going to tell North about it, though I'm not sure just how much of a discovery that is." He didn't want to say it was a nightmare. He could have been wrong, right?

Sandy nodded slowly, he understood, and as the Guardian of Dreams started to spread his dream sand once more, Jack jumped off the sand cloud, being carried away by the wind who happily threw him through the air as fast as it could, almost like it wanted to make up for not having been able to save its friend before. Jack laughed over the extreme enthusiasm the wind put into transporting him, almost seeming like it wanted to set a new record in making him able to get as fast as possible to the North Pole, despite Jack not being really sure about how to talk with the older Guardian, once they met.

Soon, too soon for Jack's taste, the North Pole got in sight, quickly followed by North's workshop. Jack landed in front of the big entrance, where he hesitated a moment, before entering.

The yetis had already started with creating the toys for this year's Christmas though it was still eleven months away. They didn't seem that busy, but already had a lot on their hands. The elves were still creating trouble and whenever Jack passed one of them, he deep froze them, a habit he had gained since his first time entering the workshop when he had been chosen as a Guardian. None of the yetis seemed to notice his presence, which was fine by Jack.

Once he reached North office, he stopped up behind the big door, having left a trail of deep frozen elves wherever he had passed. Jack opened the door, and met a sight of metal right as he entered. North's project was still in progress on the floor. Most of the Christmas decorations had been removed and it now looked like itself, and the many ice models of rollercoasters and trains stood filled a lot of the tables. They didn't melt despite the warmth from the fireplace.

But there was no North.

Jack turned around, walking to the globe room, still freezing elves that came near enough for him to reach with his staff.

"North," Jack called as he looked around the globe at the middle of the room. "You here?"

There was no response.

Jack jumped into the air, flying up to be able to get a better look around. He called North once again, but still there was no sign of the older spirit. He couldn't even see any sign of North when he looked through the windows to the rooms above him.

A confused Jack flew around the workshop, searching for North, but no matter where he searched, he couldn't find him.

"Hey Phil, you've seen North?" The yeti, who had thrown Jack out countless times when he had tried to break in before becoming a guardian, looked at him with a confused look, before saying something in his language. The smile on Jack's face vanished slowly when he realized how stupid it had been to ask the yetis – he couldn't understand even a single word of their language. "Thanks pal, but that's not really helping…"

Phil rolled his eyes, before continuing painting the toys by his side, mumbling something that sounded like an insult. Jack smirked and froze Phil's work, before quickly flying away from the angry yeti, while laughing and continuing his search for the big white bearded guy, but eventually gave up. He had to be outside then or maybe visiting one of the other Guardians.

He was about to jump out one of the big windows, when he heard a voice behind him, thick with a Russian accent; "Jack, what are you doing here?"

Jack turned around on the window seal, seeing the Guardian of Wonder appear behind a corner, all dirty from head to toe. North looked surprised over the sudden return from Jack, but a smile was to be seen on his face, when Jack jumped back in through the window. So far, it didn't seem like he was mad anymore at least.

"Where've you been, I've been looking all over for you," Jack asked as he walked towards North and was met with a heavy smell of reindeers. Of all the places, Jack hadn't searched in the stables. North laughed when he saw Jacks expression over the stench coming from him.

"I think you got your answer already." The smile on his face disappeared, when his eyes fell over the wound on Jacks body. He hadn't cleaned himself from the blood so he probably didn't look that good. "What happened?" The sudden change in North's voice made Jack regret that he hadn't at least waited a bit before coming to North. He didn't like it when the other Guardians worried about him.

"I fell and cut myself on some branches," Jack lied, but he could tell right away that North didn't fall for it. The older spirit raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms, expecting a true answer.

Jack sighed annoyed but told the truth. What was the point of lying if he didn't fall for it? And besides, he respected North enough to not continue lying if he realized what was going on. "I was unlucky and came into a fight with Pitch's ally, but as you can see I got away just fine, so there's nothing to worry about." His cheek hurt from talking, and he soon felt blood falling from the wound once more.

Great. Just great.

North didn't hesitate a second before pulling the young spirit into the infirmary, under heavy protest. He didn't hesitate before he started to clean the wound with some sort of liquid he had found in the cabinet by the door, that made it sting like crazy. He seemed deeply worried about Jack's health. Jack said through clenched teeth that he was fine and there was nothing to worry about, but again, the older spirit didn't seem to believe him.

Once North was done with the cheek, he started with the leg, gaining a painful moan from Jack as he clenched it. It hurt like hell.

"North, I found the faces." Jack said as soon as North was done fussing over him, and now stood at one of the cabinets in the room. North looked confused at Jack as if he was speaking in delirium. "They weren't faces, they were a country. In Europe in fact."

"Jack, what are you talking about?"

"The faces! From the Man in the Moon!" Jack exclaimed, gesturing towards the moon on the sky behind them, but accidently froze the whole window in the progress. He just laughed it off and started to explain how he had found out about the faces. He intentionally let out the part of Pitch's ally becoming a nightmare, unsure of just how to explain that without sounding crazy, and the part where Pitch had showed up.

North's expression brightened up, but soon became full of wondering about just what they were supposed to find there and how stupid he had been for not recognizing the shape of the country, since he had been there countless of times during his many Christmas'.

One problem solved, another one showing up. They both knew that. But at least now they were one step closer to figure what was going on.

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**Note: In Denmark there's this joke that our country looks like mishaped/deformed faces, which is also why we call one of our islands The Devil Island, because it looks like a devil face, while our mainland (Jutland) looks like a face with a giant nose. I know it's weird, but in DK we find it rather amusing.**


	12. Globe of Believes

**Finally something's happening! I'm sorry it took so long for Pitch to really start his big plan, but I have to admit that I was so focused on the story between the big event, that I actually had forgot to start it! Silly, silly me!**

**But honestly, I know I have to make some more action sooner or later; I just can't seem to make it happen before going through all of this "non-eventful" stuff, if you can say it like that... ?**

**But hahve to admit this chapter didn't become quite as I wanted it to be.**

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"So we know the country, but we still don't know what we're going to look for?"

"More or less."

Bunny looked at the Guardian of Wonder in front of him with eyes big of disbelieve. "Come on North, we can't use that for anything! Are you absolutely sure that Frostbite isn't just trying to make us come running here for no reason?"

Jack, who stood beside a big half-finished pyramid of elves, raised an eyebrow and said, while acting hurt; "Bunny, you hurt my feelings; you know how I love making North call you all here though I know you're all busy, and then you question my knowledge! I feel so sad right now."

The Guardian of Hope rolled his eyes annoyed over the sarcasm from the young winter spirit. Secretly though, he was happy that the old Jack had started to return, instead of having a Guardian around on the verge of tears constantly. "Listen up mate, I know it's a step in the right direction, but it's nothing that can lead us to whatever Manny wants us to find; it doesn't make any sense why he didn't get give us more to go on."

North shrugged. "It is better than nothing, no?"

"It _is_ nothing!" Bunny exclaimed, holding his arms out to the sides, looking back and forth between North and Jack.

Jack sighed. He had sort of hoped that his discovery would have gained a little more enthusiasm from his fellow Guardians.

North had put on the Northern Lights after Jack had told him what he had found out, and the other Guardians had come. Even Tooth had come despite her not having the time to do so, or at least one of her duplicates or whatever, and was currently sitting in one of the big armchairs in the room, mumbling orders in her sleep, while her mini fairies lay sleeping around her. She was really pushing herself way too much, but had declined any help from her friends, stating that she could handle it as long as no more of her fairies disappeared, which they luckily hadn't. She had this time kept them all close by, never leaving a single one alone. But Tooth herself didn't look too good – her plumage was still missing loads of feathers, but they couldn't do anything to help her as long as she didn't want them to. It all worried them, but the lights on the globes hadn't disappeared at least – only a handful of children had stopped believing in the past months this had been going on, so it seemed that she was able to do the job even with the lack of fairies.

"It's better than nothing," Jack corrected the Guardian of Hope from the big pyramid of frozen elves he was creating. While North had sat the Northern lights on to the sky, Jack had been flying around the workshop, collecting all the elves he had frozen (which were a lot) and started to build a pyramid in the globe room, as far away from the fireplace as he could, to make sure they wouldn't thaw too quick.

"So what's the plan then?" Bunny finally asked. "We can't go search a country for something we don't even know what is or what looks like. It's as good as impossible! I'm still standing at what I said last; the Man in the Moon is gutted or gone mad as a cut snake by circling around up there for too long." He gestured to the big window where the sun stood high on the sky, though there was no moon in sight.

"Pitch said something about a family," The words came out of Jack's mouth before he could stop them. He hadn't wanted to let them know that Pitch had been involved in the encounter with his ally, what was her name…? Jack couldn't remember the name, but didn't care for it. All he cared was for the expression on Bunny's face, when he heard Jack's words, though they had been so low neither Sandy nor North had heard them. But of course they couldn't escape the Easter Bunny's sensitive ears. Jack tried to ignore the look on Bunny's face, concentrating way too much on placing an elf as perpendicularly as possible.

Bunny didn't let him get away that easily. "What? Pitch mentioned a family? Why didn't you say so before! That's information we could use!" The other Guardians, who weren't sleeping, watched Jack as placed another elf beside it, being as perfectionistic about it as he had been with the previous one. "Oi! I'm expecting an answer, Frostbite."

The young spirit finally looked at them, with a half laughing, half apologizing smirk on his face, trying to ease up the rabbit. "I just so happened to think it wasn't of any importance."

"Not of importance?" Bunny almost spit out his words of pure disbelieve of what he had just heard. "How is that of none importance? Every single grain of information is of importance in this case! We don't even know what Pitch is planning, nor if he has already started it, and…" As if his words were the key, the lights on the Globe of Believe started to vanish quickly. Way too quickly.

The Guardians watched in terror as the lights started to disappear. "You better tell us _everything_ you've found out, before this gets out of hand!" Bunny said threating, and held Jack down, so they could talk eye to eye. "Right now!"

They started at each other for a long while, before Jack finally gave in, telling them everything that had happened during the encounter with Pitch's ally, this time not leaving any details out. Not even the part of her being a humanoid nightmare, and just as thought, the information seemed to breath take the Guardians.

The three older guardians all shared a look between them, all saying the same thing with their eyes; just what had Pitch been doing all these decades?

"Sector eighteen, five teeth, one house!" Tooth suddenly shot out of her sleep, continuing to yell orders, before falling back to unconsciousness, this time snoring. This little act had made them all look at her, and Jack couldn't help but giggle, though he felt sorry for her being so exhausted, and couldn't help but wonder if the other Tooth's felt just as bad. They really needed to get her minions back. He was worried for both Tooth and the other mini fairies… He was worried about Baby Tooth - Extremely worried. Every time he had found a little clique of fairies doing their job, in the time the other fairies had been gone, he had every time look after the one little fairy with a beauty mark under its right eye… But there was no Baby Tooth. It was sad. He and Baby Tooth had a special bond that he didn't share with any of the other fairies, after all; she had helped him gain his memories when he had needed them most and he had saved her from being captured by Pitch.

"So we're supposed to look for a family," North said, letting his hand slide down his long beard. "There are little over six million people in that country; very little chance for finding them."

"Little chance? It's impossible! And we're running out of time!"

Jack sighed annoyed of Bunny's continuing pessimism. He placed another elf on top of his pyramid and suddenly got an idea. "Knock, knock."

Bunny looked at the young winter spirit behind him. "Ay?"

"Knock, knock," Jack said again with an encouraging look on his face, hoping that Bunny would participate in his joke.

The Guardian of Hope rolled his eyes of annoyence, and unwillingly continued: "Who's there?"

"Boo."

"Boo who?"

"Aw don't cry."

"Shut it, Frostbite!" Bunny exclaimed, suddenly really angry. Apparently Jack's joke hadn't fallen in good soil. "I'm not going to blubber! I'm just looking at our options and sees thing realistically. There's no way we can find some _rellies _when we know nothing of who we're looking for, or _why_. And there's no way a nightmare can have a family. And just look at the globe for crying out loud, we're losing believers each second we're staying here."

"Bunny, relax, he was just trying to ease the tension," North said, walking over from his place beside Sandy, who stood and threw small amounts of dream sand over Tooth. He had been standing and watching the conversation going between the two Guardians. "I know we have to be quick, but we have no choice than to try and find Pitch and see if we can stop whatever he's doing to the children."

Bunny opened his mouth but closed it again, his eyes moving towards the globe, before he made a deep sigh, apparently giving up. "Alright mate, I'll tell you what; I'll go to Pitch's lair and see if I can find something that can lead us on the right track, and if I'm not back before evening... Just hope I'm back before that." He stamped on the ground and disappeared through his tunnel before any of the other Guardians could react.


	13. Pitch's Lair

**Short POV change! In this chapter we're following Bunnymund in Pitch's lair.**

* * *

Bunnymund reached Pitch's lair in only a matter of minutes, but slowed down as he closed in on the place. What had he been thinking going there alone?

As he entered the caverns of the old sunken palace, he drew his boomerangs in case of a sudden attack from the shadows. It was better to be prepared than be taken by surprise.

His footsteps echoed against the walls as he walked through the tunnels, despite trying to be as silent as possible. He felt creeped out and constantly watched from the shadows, but every time he turned, there was nothing to see. He entered a giant dark room where hundreds of cages hang from the ceiling with old crumbling feathers. So this had been where he had held the mini fairies all those years back.

A sudden noise behind him, made him quickly turn around, holding boomerangs and egg bombs ready, but again there was nothing to see. Had it just been his imagination?

Bunny sped up his walk, deciding to get through this as fast as possible – he only had a few hours before it would get dark.

He went down a tunnel, which was containing no lights at all, making it hard to see anything.

_You don't belong here…_

A voice whispered its words from the shadows, giving Bunny the creeps. He tried to ignore it as he continued through the tunnels, but the fear of the place had already started to spread in him. To his luch, he found a torch lying on the ground and enlightened it. The tunnels were ramshackle and seemed to be really ancient. It didn't look like there had been someone in years.

_We have won… you're losing your believers … soon you'll die too …_

Bunny ran through the dark tunnels, trying to find whatever clue might lead them in the right direction. Anything would do, to help them understand what was going on; a book, a piece of paper, a note... anything.

_You should head back home to your Warren before it is too late, little kangaroo._

He passed serial doors, which he opened but all found empty, much to his displease. Shouldn't there at least be a nightmare running around? or at least a chair in one of the rooms?

The fearsome atmosphere had started to crawl up on him. But he had to ignore it. There was nothing else to do.

_You know you shouldn't be here … this place is filled with fear and darkness, and you're afraid …_

"I'm funk of nothing," Bunny mumbled back to the voice, which in response made a sound as if it was laughing.

_Oh? Then why is your heart trembling? Why are your body shaking and your brain fearing what you might find? You're afraid of finding Pitch's secrets … you're afraid of meeting his new nightmare creature … afraid of proving the winter spirit was right about his discovery… _

Bunny opened another door and went inside, but the room was just as empty as the ones before this one. He grunted before continuing down another tunnel. He didn't listen to the words the voice whispered. He didn't want to though he had to admit it was right in most of what it said.

_Join the darkness, little bunny… join us and spread the darkness in the world … we can rule together, all three of us … Easter will become bigger than Christmas …_

The Guardian of Hope slammed another door open, this time to be met by what seemed like a library. Finally something that seemed to contain some clues! Bunny quickly started to search the room for whatever could help him and his fellow guardians. He threw books of their shelves, shaking them in case there was something inside, checked under carpets and tables, but there was nothing to find.

What was he doing here, it was all so scary … Bunny shook the thought of fear of him and continued his search, ashamed of letting Pitch spreading fear in him.

_You won't find what you're looking for … Why don't you just give up? We can help you …_

"Why don't you just can it already?" Bunny said to the voice as he entered another room, this time something that seemed like an old office.

The voice laughed again. _Is the little bunny angry? Isn't that adorable…_

"Shot up Pitch." Bunny was searching the drawers of an old desk in the middle of the big dark office. Just like the rest of the tunnels it didn't seem like there had been anyone for years. It worried him – shouldn't there at least be a sign of having been someone walking the tunnels and corridors of this lair? He turned, searching for something that might seem out of place.

_Oh Bunny, you always knows what to say_ …_ But don't you think it's shameful to break into someone's home and destroy it? What sort of message is that to send to children?_

Bunny pulled down an old portrait, but was met with a wall. "You don't care about children," he mumbled as he continued his search. "All you care for is spreading fear." Bunny threw even more books down from shelves, searching wherever he could come near.

As he continued to search room after room, his hope of finding a clue started to slowly crumble. Was there really nothing there? Pitch's voice, filled with the enjoyment of Bunny searching in vain, sounded with words trying to make Bunny give up and join the darkness. Bunny declined. He wouldn't have anything to do with Pitch, nothing more than necessary anyway. The further into the lair Bunny got, the further he came from the surface. The air got more and more humid the further he got, and he started to worry whether his torch would be able to keep it up much longer. The tunnel he followed ended in a cul-de-sac. The only way further was through a heavy door.

Pitch continued to whisper words in Bunny's ears while giving him touches of fear.

Bunny grunted as an answer to what was being whispered, before opening the door in front of him. It was heavy and lead into what seemed to be something of a mix between a dungeon and a bedroom. Big piles of nightmare sand and ashes lay everywhere on the ground together with countless lanterns, making it look like a burning dessert. A big bed, mostly covered in ashes, stood at one of the walls and an old desk, covered in books and papers. He walked in, starting to search the room for clues. If he couldn't find some here, he was officially done with his search. Pitch continued to talk him into joining him and his ally, but was ignored.

He went through the papers that all was written on a foreign language he didn't understand. The books were, for some reason, mostly cookbooks on the same strange language as the papers. He even searched in the piles of sand on the floor, no matter how little he wanted to do so, of fear of nightmares jumping up.

Though he didn't like to admit it had been a waste of time, he couldn't find anything at all. He stumped on the ground, holding his boomerangs ready, and was about to jump into his tunnel, when something caught his eye.

The bed.

Curious, he walked to the bed, which he had sworn he had searched through. It was filled with ashes. His eyes widened as he removed the pillow, from where something had caught his eye - it shined in the light from the torch in his hand.

"Bingo."

At that word, Pitch closed the door behind him.


	14. Nightmare

**I know there's almost nothing happening in this chapter, and I'm sorry about it, but… well… okay, didn't realize it had gotten this long! **

* * *

Bunnymund hadn't returned. It had been hours since evening had set in, but the Guardian of Hope hadn't shown up. They shouldn't have let him go by himself, they knew that, but he had taken one of his tunnels before they had been able to react. It worried them.

The four guardians were still occupied in the globe room, or at least until evening had come; Sandy had to do his job in order to try and keep up some of the believers.

North had sent out a lot of his yetis to search the globe for any signs of Pitch and his ally, Samantha (which they had chosen to shorten to Sam), but so far none of them had had any luck, and it wasn't like they could walk around the human world unnoticed anyway – they weren't invisible like the guardians or any other spirit for that matter, so it was troublesome for them to help, but they did the best they could at least.

Jack had finished his elf pyramid, and even decorated it with a layer of snow, before he had started to wander restless around the room, trying to keep his mind on something else than the loss of believers and Bunny not returning, but it was easier said than done. At even the smallest sound of footsteps he turned, expectantly to see the oversized bunny, but was only met by an elf wandering out from somewhere.

Tooth had finally awakened. She still seemed tired, but at least now she seemed less tense and seemed better off, though she was shocked to see the globe loosing believers every second. She insisted on being briefed about what had happened while she had been sleeping, and was now sitting in the chair, telling herself with tearful eyes, that it was her fault for this to happen; that she shouldn't have let herself rest. North told her it was nonsense and that it would have happened anyway thanks to Pitch, but she didn't seem to be able to stop blaming herself.

Now they were just waiting for Bunny to return. They had agreed they would wait 'till midnight, but if Bunny hadn't showed up by then, they would part – North would go to Pitch's lair together with some yetis and search for Bunny, while Tooth and Jack would go collect teeth while searching for Pitch and Sam. If anything happened to any of them, they had each gotten a magical globe to be able to get away as fast as possible.

Time went by slowly. They all looked at the clock on the wall every five minutes or so, but time never seemed to go any faster.

10:32 – Jack was wandering around the globe trying to calculate how many lights went out every minute, but he soon gave up – there was no fun in what he was doing. Tooth had started to protest that she had to do her job, but North simply told her to at least try to relax before go out to gather teeth. He had started to get restless himself.

11:22 – They were having a minor discussion, but ended with Tooth sitting in the armchair, restlessly trying to get a grip of how many houses they had to visit for one night. But no sign of Bunny.

11:41 – Tooth were still mumbling to herself about how many teeth they had to collect that night, considering how much behind they would be due to this – she didn't seem like herself at all. Might be due to stress and the strict schedule she had gained due to lack of fairies. Who knew? Jack had made it snow over his pyramid, and North was preparing for their take off.

11:50 – They ready for takeoff, and hoped more than anything for Bunny to shove up from a hole in the ground, but nothing was to see change on the surface before them. They went through the plan once more.

00:00 – …

They looked at each other with guilt in their eyes. They shouldn't have let him go by himself, but now they had to follow the plan.

North and a couple of well-armed yetis went through a portal to Pitch's lair, while Tooth and Jack flew out of a window, heading for the many children around the world. There was no time to waste and the other Tooth's couldn't keep up with the collecting of teeth, if as much as one of them took a few hours off.

They flew to America, which the night had just settled upon, starting to collect teeth like crazy (this time, Jack remembered to leave gifts, he could easily remember the slight embarrassment him and the other male guardians had gotten when they had last helped Tooth collect teeth seventy years ago, and had forgotten to leave gifts, meaning they had had to redo the whole route, causing them to lose valuable time).

They quickly went through the states, gathering a heavy sack of teeth, which Jack carried. They had to return to the tooth palace to empty it a few times, when it had become too heavy for Jack to carry around without slowing them down, but it didn't take long before the two of them, plus some mini fairies, were out gathering teeth again.

Jack had to admit that he hadn't ever seen Tooth so serious or having such a lack of humor before, even most of her gentle and caring nature was gone – disappeared as she had started to become stressed once again. She hissed at both Jack and her fairies if they were taking too long and even yelled at them from time to time, which was out of character for her to do. It actually hurt him to see her this way, but he couldn't blame her, considering her whole existence was on the line just like the rest of the Guardians were.

They went from North America to South America after some hours. Jack had never spent much time in the South, since the temperatures which felt like it was burning him whenever he got near – the difference in the temperature in the air and in his body were simply too big.

They collected the teeth with no words shared between them; the only words being said was Tooth's orders, and complains if they were too slow. Jack just kept his mouth shut – not wanting to make it any more difficult for her than it already was, but it was rather hard at times, considering the harsh words she said, and when you're one of the most fun spirits in existence, and aren't allowed to make any jokes, it easily makes it one of the hardest things in the world not to do.

As the night continued, they met one of Tooth's duplicates, who seemed even more stressed and tense than the Tooth Jack followed around. Though Jack now knew there were many Tooth's around the world collecting teeth, it still felt weird for him for there to be more than one Toothiana at one place - he really felt mind fucked about it.

But there was something about these duplicates though; when she had split herself into duplicates, they were all small – about the length of an arm, and it honestly felt a bit weird to be bossed around by someone in that size. Yet he respected her for being able to have pulled the whole tooth-collecting-thing this long, considering her size having decreased that much.

Jack and Tooth had barely crossed the border to Chile when the sun started to rise in the horizon, and with it came the heat. They couldn't do more now, since the kids had started to waken – the once who hadn't been reached in time had to be disappointed, no matter how little they wanted it to be so. They looked at the sack of teeth in Jacks' hand, before going back to the Tooth Palace through a portal to sort them, or at least the mini fairies would do so.

But on their trip, they hadn't seen even the slightest sign of neither Pitch nor Sam; only children who seemed to have lost a lot of faith and believe.

Tooth seemed to have relaxed as the sun had come up, knowing that they at least had done a good job, though not having been able to reach all the children as planned. She even said they had collected more than usual thanks to Jack helping her.

When they entered the Palace in the skies of Southern Asia, a whole group of mini fairies grabbed the back and hectically started to sort out the teeth with no second to lose. The whole place seemed empty due to the lack of fairies, and it was obvious that Tooth pressed her fairies and herself way too much – her fairies were all just as grumpy as she, and all seemed to be able to pass out of exhaustion any time, and yet they kept on going as fast as they could to not fall behind their work.

Now Jack sat on a platform on one of the marble towers in Tooth's palace, exhausted after the load of work they had been able to pull off, with his legs hanging over the edge. His staff lay across his thigh, and his head rested against a pillar beside him. He sat and studied the fairies doing their work, wondering how long it would take before they couldn't keep it up much longer. A pair of Tooth's duplicates flew in with their clique of mini fairies –some of the duplicates even landed on some marble towers, passing out of exhaustion, just like loads of the mini fairies they were with.

One of the Tooth duplicates flew around to each of the sleeping duplicates. She touched each of them and seemingly absorbed them into her body. Her own body started to grow, as they each disappeared by her touch. Jack watched as she did this to all them who came back and passed out of exhaustion, before the now big Tooth flew away, continuing what she had done before she had taken the duplicates back. There really was no time to rest at all.

Jack felt really bad for her, but he soon started to daze off from his place at the platform.

* * *

"Jack…" A voice called distant, quickly pulling him out of his sleep. "Jack you need to wake up!" He grunted, why couldn't it just let him sleep? "Jack, please!" The voice sounded desperate, and whoever the voice came from, it was someone who shook him violently to try to wake him up.

Annoyed of not being able to sleep, he opened his eyes. Everything was blurry at first, but then he saw directly into Tooth's eyes, which were wide with fear. "Oh thank the moon you've awakened!" She said, almost starting to cry of relief. "We have to get out of here Jack!"

"W – why?" He asked, confused of the fear and desperation she emitted. But then he saw it – or felt the heat before he saw it.

Fire.

"They're attacking the palace, Jack!" She exclaimed, tears falling from her cheeks.

He quickly came to his feet, no questions, and calling the wind to carry him and Tooth as fast out of there as possible.

It was horrible – a fire had started to spread on each of the marble towers, and terrified mini fairies flew away with an almost insane speed. The whole palace shoke and had started to collapse. They managed to dodge a pillar falling from a marble tower, before the tower itself collapsed. "How did this happen?" Jack yelled to Tooth as they quickly turned to avoid the fire that spread way too quickly in front of them – the heat had quickly gotten so intense it was a miracle they were able to breathe.

"I was doing my job, and then all of the sudden there was fire everywhere!" Tooth yelled back, tears falling down her cheeks, and barely dodged a big falling rock from the marble tower above them. "They're burning everything!"

Suddenly a figure with flaming red hair and orange clothing appeared behind Tooth, with a smile on her lips, as she saw the terror in Tooth's face.

"You!" Jack's yell was filled with anger, as he realized this was all her doing. "Tooth get out of here, I'll take care of this!" He went after the girl before Tooth could react. He followed her despite the heat increasing more and more, but suddenly Sam just laughingly disappeared into the flames behind her. "You're not getting away!" Jack sent a blast of frost against the fire, but the girl didn't show up.

"Maybe it's opposite?" Her voice sounded behind him, and he quickly turned, sending ice against her, but she was only hit with water. The temperature had melted the ice before it had even gotten halfway to her. The water made a layer of color fall off her, showing the pitch black sand under her skin. "Now that's just rude." Her eyes glowed, as the color started to fall off her, leaving a nightmare standing in front of him. She grinned, showing sharp glinting teeth in her mouth, shining red in the light from the fire that surrounded them. "How can a man make himself ruin a girl's apperance?"

Jack couldn't move. He wanted to, but he couldn't – fear had started to spread in him as the nightmare shortened the distance between them. How could something like that look so scary? And just was exactly was she?

The nightmare placed a hand on his chest, its eyes staring directly into his, before its grin turned into an evil smile. "The little snowflake is scared since he doesn't know what exactly I am." Its voice sounded harsh and dark, slightly feminine, but evil and let Jack get the creeps. Just what was she?

"I'm not -" He started but all of the sudden he couldn't say anymore, and couldn't move either.

"I'll tell you," it placed its other hand on his cheek where the remains of a burn wound was to spot. By the touch he moaned as the pain shot out again. Why couldn't he move? "I'm what is going to _kill you_."

A terrible pain spread in Jack's chest, as a fire spread from under its hand. He screamed, but his body didn't move. The fire started to surround his whole body in its terrible painfull flames, as his body caught on fire. But he couldn't move.

The maniac laughter from the nightmare was the last thing he heard...

* * *

"JACK!"

Jack's eyes shot open, he sat up with such a speed that his head crashed against another, and leaved him a swelling on his forehead. It took a while before he realized he was screaming. He feverishly looked at his chest, only to see no sign of the fire that had spread from it – his skin was even intact. Confused he looked around, realizing he still was in the Tooth Palace, still on the platform he had been on when he had fallen asleep. But there was no fire. No extreme heat. No nothing.

"What happened?" He asked confused. It had all seemed so real. And the pain had been overwhelming. There was no way it could have been a dream.

Tooth, now close to her normal size, held a hand over her forehead where their heads had collided, hang in the air above him. "Jack, you were having a nightmare," she said with an assuring and worried voice. "You started to yell something about a fire and then you started to scream as if you were in some extreme pain, while clinging to your chest." She looked really worried at him. "I had to wake you up – you really seemed to suffer, and I … I was worried Jack." Tears had started to form in her eyes, as she spoke.

"I'm sorry Tooth," he said, sad to see how worried he had made her, though he hadn't done it on purpose. "It was just a dream, right? No need to get worried about good old Father Frost here."

A slight smile appeared on her lips, but tears had started to fall. "You just seemed to be in so much pain…"

Jack laid a hand on her shoulder, assuring her that he was fine, and it had just been some of Pitch's greetings to freak him out, of pure jealousy of Jack having eyebrows while he didn't. That comment made Tooth laugh, and Jack then knew she would be okay with a few minutes of laughing. At least now she seemed to have become a bit like her old sensitive, gentle self.

A portal suddenly opened behind them, made them both look shocked at it, before relaxing as North came walking through it, looking like he had just been in battle. He was covered in black sand and ashes. Shortly behind him came Bunnymund walking – looking even more whacked than North did; is fur was all black and black sand fell off of him whenever he moved.

"Seems like someone had a hard time," Jack said.

Bunny glared at Jack, before shaking his whole body right beside him, letting Jack's hair turn completely black due to the amount of sand handing in it. "You try to be locked up in a room filled with nightmares while Pitch is laughing his ass off, Frostbite, and let's see how you look afterwards."

Jack ignored the grumpiness from the rabbit, and made the wind blow the sand off of him. "So did you find something?"

All three of them looked at expectantly at Bunny, who looked at his feet as if ashamed. He hadn't found anything apparently. They all sighed; it had been a waste of time after all. But suddenly a smile appeared on Bunny's face as they had lost hope, fishing something out of his belt. "I searched, I found," Bunny said proudly of himself, sending them all a half laughing grin. "And I took." In his hand he held a dusty tooth box, with the face of a teenager with long, golden hair and brown eyes on it. "Told ya I'd find something."

* * *

**And honestly, it isn't really my best work... espicially not with the dream, but I tried at least.**


	15. The Eighth Marble Tower

They all stood looking at the tooth box in Bunny's paws.

"Where did you get that?" Tooth whispered slightly in shock. "They're not supposed to ever leave the marble towers."

Bunny answered her question with a serious mime, though a proud smile was to spot behind it. "I found it in Pitch's lair, apparently it must be important since there only was this one, and they even hided it in one of the deepest tunnels."

Tooth looked confused at him. "I don't get it – there's no way anyone could've come in here without me or any of my fairies noticing it." She took the box from Bunny's paws and dusted it off. She studied the pattern on it when it was mostly cleaned, before she looked over her shoulder towards the marble towers behind her. "It's from the eighth tower, the sixteenth section near the middle… But why would they steal _this_?" She looked back at her fellow Guardians confusion filling her eyes.

"The eighth tower?" North seemed almost just as confused as Tooth. "Don't you only have seven? One for each continent?"

Tooth looked at them with big eyes, before something seemed to trigger in her, and she quickly flew towards the world at the bottom of Punjam Hy Loo* under them. The male guardians followed her; Jack flew while North and Bunny ran over some of the slim bridges that connected the marble towers to each other and the ground. They followed as Tooth flew between the trees and rock formations that were covered in all sorts of plants, in the vigorous world under the marble towers that now hang in the air above them. There were watercourses, giant old trees and all sorts of flowers and plants, and beams of sunlight falling through the air – making it look like a sort of fairytale garden.

Tooth stopped once she had reached what seemed like an ancient entrance to a ruin, where a big tree grew on top, having its roots grow over its walls, while plants had started to cover it. Tooth looked at the guys behind her before entering, and they followed. They went down a long pathway inside, wondering what she was up to. The walls were all covered with pictures of women with wings and weapons in their hands. Bunnymund mumbled something about some 'Sisters of flight', but else said nothing. Jack wondered what had happened in Pitch's lair, since Bunny and North looked so beat up, but when he asked about it, they ignored him.

They kept going down for what seemed like forever, though the light never faded and it was just as bright as if they were outside, before they came to a gigantic cavern that seemed like an old throne room. Water fell slowly down from the loft and created a lake, where water plants grew in all shapes and colors. Many old wooden carvings of women with wings, like there had been on the walls, stood in the grass everywhere. In the air above them hang a giant marble tower, even bigger than the other ones hanging outside, and it seemed to contain a never ending amount of tooth boxes. It had patterns from each of the other seven marble towers, but its colors seemed sadder. A pathway scrolled from the grass filled ground all the way to the top, though they couldn't see it.

"This is the eighth tower," Tooth said with a sad smile, as they followed her up the pathway around it. "This is the tower of the dead."

"What do you mean, tower of the dead?" North asked - he already seemed exhausted of walking upwards.

Tooth smiled sadly. "You didn't think we'd keep the teeth of the living and the teeth of the dead together, did you? Once a mortal dies, whether it's child or adult, we bring their tooth box here, to storage them. Yours is right there Jack," she said and pointed at a tooth box with Jack's human face on it. Around it was tooth boxes with the faces of his family - his mother, father and little sister. Jack felt a sting of sadness and joy when he saw them– it reminded him of his long lost family and the life he once had before it was taken away by the accident on the ice. But no matter what, he was happy that he had saved his sister from drowning in exchange for his own life. Besides; the Jack he was now, wasn't the same Jackson Overland he was back when he was human. They were two different beings, yet the same. But he couldn't deny that he wanted to hold the tooth boxes of his family in his hands, keep them close to him and maybe get Baby Tooth to open them for him, to see the memories of his family. But then again, Baby Tooth was gone - being held captured somewhere by Sam and Pitch. He didn't realize he had walked over to them, before he sat on his knees with a hand beside his sister's tooth box; what had his sister done when he had disappeared through the ice? Had it scared her for life or had she been able to move on? He didn't know. All he had was faint memories of a girl in his town who had cried for weeks, and had never been able to come near the pond. He was ashamed that he hadn't been able to recognize her when he had just become Jack Frost, but even though he hadn't he had felt a somewhat connection to her, and had tried to make her cheer up, hating her tears, but of course since she couldn't see him nor hear him, and he hadn't become used to his powers then, he hadn't been able to comfort her as much as he had wanted to.

North laid a comforting hand on his shoulder, and realized he was crying. He hadn't told the Guardians of his life before he bacame a spirit, nor had he told them that he had died. To tell them about his death didn't seem like anything that they needed to know. It had been his most unselfish moment in all his mortal life and he was happy for what he had done for his sister. But from time to time he had wondered if they had died too before becoming spirits. He still remembered how it was to drown, and the darkness following it.

They continued up the passage, until Tooth stopped and flew around the marble tower, to where an empty hole was to be spotted. "This is where they took it from…" She looked at the hole and lightly touched it with her free hand, before looking at the face on the box in her hand - the teenage girl didn't smile, neither did she look happy, but her eyes were filled with love. "And if I'm not mistaken, which I might, then this is the girl Pitch has gained as an ally."

Her fellow Guardians looked confused at her. "But she's a nightmare. Nightmares hasn't been anything else than dreams."

"I did say I could be mistaken." She looked troubled at the tooth box in her hands, as if she had started an inner fight.

"Only one way to find out, no? We're going to see memories." North said with a happy gesture. Finally something that could lead them to figure who that girl was.

Tooth looked at them, suddenly holding the tooth box very protective. "I don't think you understand what you're asking. These are memories of a child that has died! They're another being's memories, which shouldn't be seen by others."

"We don't have a choice Tooth," Bunny said, looking her in the eyes. "If we want to figure what happened for Pitch to gain an ally we have to see them."

"I – I can't let you do it, it strikes against all my principles. How am I supposed to protect memories, if I can't even protect them from those who seek the memories of others?"

North sighed. "Tooth please. Look at yourself, and tell me if it isn't an emergency situation."

She looked troubled at her fellow Guardians with tears in her eyes. Yes, her plumage had become horrible to look at, and she knew it wasn't a good thing, but… She felt as if she was being held up in a corner where she had to decide whether to fight against her friends to protect the memories and everything she was, or give up her principles and responsibility in order to help them.

"Tooth…" Jack said, looking encouraging at her. He could see how troubled she was about the choice she had to make. "It's only one time. _One time_, and we'll never ask of you to do this sort of thing ever again." She looked at him, her eyes big with worry. Her breathe was uneven and her plumage stood out in all directions. "_One_ time," he assured her.

Tooth looked at Bunny and North with a troubled look. They both nodded.

"I'm sorry…" She said and lowered her eyes. "I can't do it. My family wouldn't approve of it."

Jack looked interested at her. He had never heard her talk about her family before, but before he could ask about it, North spoke; "Tooth, I know it is hard for you to do this, and I know that, according to what you've told me once, then they pointed you to protect the children's memories before they all became like this," he gestured to the wooden women in the grass beneath them. "But we need you to help us with this. It is what you are – a Guardian. A protector of children. And to protect children we need you to let us see the memories. We're running out of time Tooth."

"Her family are statues?" Jack asked Bunny while North tried to convince Tooth to let them see the memories.

"Sort of… It's a long story mate, and it isn't a happy one. None of our stories are…"

Jack looked expectantly at Bunny to continue, but he didn't. There was sadness to spot in his eyes, making Jack stop further questioning. It didn't look like Bunny to become sad just by thinking of something. Instead he asked about what had happened in Pitch's lair.

Bunny replied rather shortly, leaving out as many details as possible; "I was wandering around Pitch's lair, and when I found that box, he shut the door behind me and started to send his bloody nightmares to attack me; luckily for me North showed up and saved my butt."

"You needed _help_?"

"It's not that I couldn't have handled it myself, but help are always welcome."

The grin on Jack's face made Bunny roll his eyes. They both looked watched as North tried to convince Tooth, and it seemed like forever before Tooth finally took a deep breath before finally giving in; "_One time_ and then you'll never _ever_ ask me to do this sort of thing ever again. I'm a Guardian of Memories, meaning this will go against everything I know. But you're right North; I'm also one of the Guardians of Children, so I can't let anything happen to the children of the world." She sighed as the male spirits around her all smiled with relief. "Please don't think I'm doing this because I want to." She hesitantly held out the tooth box. "Here, I'll only do this once. Put a finger on it, and I'll open the memories."

They did as she asked. Tooth took a deep breath, apparently regretting her dicision already, before closing her eyes and opening the memories.

* * *

***Punjam Hy Loo = what the Tooth Palace was called before it became _the Tooth Palace_**


	16. Memories - 1 of 4

The light faded as Tooth opened the memories. Before the Guardians, was a child's room in which a little girl was to be spotted on the floor; her hair was golden and sat in a short ponytail, her eyes brown and she didn't seem to be much older than five. Around her lay stacks of drawings and color pencils and a teddy sat up against the bed beside her. In a cradle at the long end of the room lay a baby child sleeping. From time to time the girl sat up and looked at the boy, as if making sure he was okay. Her smile to it was filled with such love that it even affected the Guardians as they watched the memory.

The girl looked out of the window in front of her, from her place on the floor, where snow had slowly started to fall from the bright sky. Her eyes lighted up as she saw it and a big smile crossed her lips. "Benjamin, look! It's snowing! It didn't forget about us!" She said happily to the child in the crib, as she left her drawings on the floor and opened the window, letting the snow fall in. She laughed, and her eyes got big with wonder and joy as a snowflake landed on her nose and melted by the touch. She grinned, but it quickly disappeared as a man, supposedly her father, entered the room.

"What are you doing, Samantha?" Her father exclaimed angrily, when he saw the window was open. "Do you want to freeze your brother to death?" The man pushed Samantha away from the window and into the bookcase, causing a loud noise at the impact.

The father smacked the window, and felt on the baby's cheeks, before sighing of relief that they hadn't become cold, ignoring the crying girl by the bookcase. "I ju – just showed h – him the sn - snow!" Samantha cried out between her sobs.

"He's a baby, he should not be put in danger like that; do you want him to die?!" The man yelled the last words directly into the girls face, causing her to cry hysterically, truly terrified of the sudden attack, as the man continued to yell at her, waking up the baby in the cradle and making it cry too. The man looked furious, now yelling that it was her fault for waking up the baby.

A woman came running into the room, with a cautious look on her face, but it was quickly replaced with anger. "What do you think you're doing?" She yelled at the man. "How dare you to yell at her like that? She's a child for goodness sake!" She pushed the man away from the girl, but it only resulted in him pushing her back. With a shocked expression the woman quickly, and angrily counterattacked, and out of the blue they started to fight – the woman tried to make the man leave the room, while the man hit against her, both yelling at each other.

Samantha didn't sit up against the bookcase anymore. She had run to the cradle where her baby brother was crying, covering his ears with shaking hands, though she still was crying like there was no tomorrow, while the fight behind her unfolded. She pressed her eyes shot, hoping for it to end soon.

* * *

The scene changed to what seemed to be a few hours after the fight. It was dark outside and the snow still fell. The girl sat beside her mother in bed, who had gotten scratches on her face and she caressed the girl's hair and hummed a melody. They both gazed toward the sky through the window.

"Mother, why does is he hate us like that?"

The woman stopped humming, and looked at her child. "I don't know Sammy. He might have a bad day, just like any other day, I don't know…"

"Does he hate us?"

"Oh no, no don't say that, of course he loves you, he…" She hesitated before caressing Samantha's chin. "He's just really stressed out, and when you're like that you easily get violent." She hugged her child tightly, but she had a worried expression on her face, as she looked out of the window toward the moon again.

"Will you tell me a story?" Sam finally asked her mother after a long while.

The mother hesitated before she smiled a caring smile. "Of course dear, what do you want to hear?"

"Anything is fine."

The mother sighed deeply, apparently trying to find a right story to tell her daughter, but it didn't last long before she found it; "Once upon a time in this very world, there was only darkness. There was none stars on the sky, the moon didn't exist and the sun could rarely break through the dark at all. Every human being on planet Earth was afraid of the creatures living in the dark, and the nightmares at night was lot scarier than those we get today.  
"There was no magic in the air, and no spirits to protect the world and living creatures from harm. Everything was cold and evil. But on this very planet, in the very darkness of Earth, there once lived a man called Tsar Lunar. Despite the harm and evil that filled the world, he was pure and brave and filled with wonder, hopes and dreams, and in his eyes lived the only light you could find in the dark world in which he lived, because he was the only one who had a pure heart that hadn't been tainted by the darkness."

"Why wasn't he tainted?" Samantha asked.

That question made her mother think for a second; "Nobody knows why he was like that. Maybe he was immune to the darkness in the world, or maybe he had seen a rare glimpse of the sun when he first opened his eyes when he was born. No one knew.  
"But Tsar Lunar had a family which he loved dearly and protected, despite the fact that they too was tainted by darkness and feared everything that lived in the night, just as every other human did at the time, but thanks to the purity from Tsar Lunar he could keep the monsters away from his family, and as he grew up, his family too became filled with the light and wonder that Tsar Lunar had. When he became an adult, no dark creature could get near his family at all, all thanks to the light he had spread into their hearts. But of course a light in the dark can't go unnoticed.  
"The King of Nightmares who ruled the world, soon found out about the light in his perfect world of darkness, and he sent out his subordinates to find the man who was responsible for spreading light, which the King of Nightmares hated so much. He soon found the man, but realized he couldn't come near him due to the light and purity, but the King of Nightmares didn't give up. He used his ingenuity and found a way to make Tsar Lunar leave his family, so he could put his darkness into their light. When Tsar Lunar came back to his family, he found them all evil and tainted with the darkness around them. He soon realized what had happened and started to search for the King of Nightmares, and found him after years of searching.  
"He demanded for the King to return the lights to his family, but the King didn't give in, saying that no light was allowed into his world of darkness, so instead they started a war between the two of them, where the winner would get what he wanted. They fought for years and it didn't seem like it would ever end, not before something caught Tsar Luna's attention. Even though it was just for a second, the King of Nightmares managed to kill him by stabbing his heart, happy for him to finally have won the fight. But as the sword reached the heart of Tsar Lunar, Tsar Lunar started to glow in the brightest light that had ever been seen in the world at the time, and his body shot up into the sky where it became a glowing orb as bright as the sun on the dark night sky."

"How did he do that?"

"When he had fought against the King of Nightmares, something had caught his eyes – it was some children who were watching the fight; their eyes had been full of hope – hope that the nightmares would disappear and light would come instead, and he had heard the prayers of hopes and dreams the children had made when they had heard there had been hope for the King to go away. So as the King and Tsar Lunar had fought, and Tsar Lunar had realized something by listening to the prayers and seen the hope in the eyes of the children; in order to give light to people's hearts and chase the darkness and fear away, he had to be able to spread his own light from out of reach of the King of Nightmares darkness. But he couldn't do so without the help from the King of Nightmares, so when the King's sword came too close to the pure heart in the chest of Tsar Lunar, the light from within him was able to burst out of the body and into the world. It lifted Tsar Lunar's body up in the sky and transformed it into the Moon, and he separated night from day."

"What about the King? Did he die?"

The mother chuckled over the excited expression on Samantha's face – she found the story really interesting and exciting. "Oh no, the King knew from what had happened that Tsar Lunar had become stronger than he, and the King was afraid of what he saw. Tsar Lunar was angry at the King and wanted to kill him, but when he saw how terrified the King was, he showed him mercy and made a deal with him; the King would stay away from the light of the day and stay hidden in the shadows of the night, where he could continue his reign, but only as long as he allowed Tsar Lunar to watch and observe his work, as long as he didn't harm the children of the world by anything else than nightmares in their sleep, and never went overboard.  
"The Nightmare King agreed, knowing that most of his powers were lost as the night and day got separated, and hopes and dreams had started to unfold in the minds of all living creatures around them, creating spirits that protected the humans. From that moment on, hopes and dreams and lights spread around the world from Tsar Lunar on the sky, and magic started to come into the world, as spirits and myths and legends filled the minds of the humans in the world.  
"But the world soon forgot about the King of Nightmares, since his powers had gotten so weak, but the King still lurks the shadows, watching and waiting for a chance to regain his powers, despite the deal he made with Tsar Lunar. And while the world soon forgot about the King, that had once tossed the world into darkness, they never forgot Tsar Lunar who guarded them from his place on the sky, though his name soon disappeared and he had gotten a new; the Man in the Moon, and whenever you look upon the moon, and you think you can see a face smiling, it is Tsar Lunar, the man who watches the children of the world and only interrupts with the affairs on Earth when the King is breaking the deal.  
"So if you ever feel like there's only evil in the world, you can send a prayer to the Man in the Moon and he will help chase the darkness away from your heart and protect you from it, because it just might be the Nightmare King who's around, trying to regain his powers by tainting your light."

Samantha looked for a long while at the moon; something in her eyes had changed, but what it was, was impossible to tell.


	17. Memories - 2 of 4

The scene changed again, this time they were outside in a snow filled garden. Samantha, now a child with the age of seven sat on a swing with her back to the house behind her, where more fighting could be heard. The girl slightly smiled, looking at her two year old brother in the pram – he was warm under his duvet and blankets, and away from the fight.

It was Christmas day – the 24th of December. Tonight Santa Clause would come and give her and her brother presents, if he remembered them. She began to swing slowly back and forth while humming a Christmas song to herself, while checking up on her brother if he made even the slightest sound.

As time went by, the night came back. The sound of her parents fighting had stopped, but she didn't walk in just yet. She knew the routine, though she still was just a small child. They would fight and after the house wouldn't be right to come back into right away, so she waited. She might be only a child, but she was smart, and she thanked herself for being that, because then she was able to tell when things was about to get ugly.

The evening came and with it came the dark and the cold. Finally her mother came out for her, telling her it was time for Christmas dinner and that they soon had to dance around the tree and open presents.

Sam smiled, though she didn't want to hold Christmas after a fight, but the sound of presents was so tempting she had to come in.

But as the evening went by, another fight started – they had been eating, just the four of them and danced around the Christmas tree, though the tension between her mother and father was as visible as it could get. Sam had accidently bumped into a candlestick, making it tip over, starting a minor fire on the tablecloth, which quickly was ended by her mother. But the father wasn't happy, he started to yell at her, and even hit her because of the accident. Her mother protected Sam by pushing her out of the way, and counterattacked her husband, who was yelling all sorts of horrible things towards both of the girls.

Sam ran upstairs to her room, while being followed by the yells from her father. Luckily her brother was sleeping in the bedroom which the two of them shared. She closed the door and fell to her knees in front of the window, looking up the moon. Tears started to fall from her eyes as she closed them, folded her hands and started to send a prayer to the moon in the sky, remembering the story her mother had told her so many times about how the Man in the Moon protected children by sending the King of Nightmares away. She believed in it. She truly believed in what her mother had told her in the story about Tsar Lunar that had become the moon, and despite her mother had told her that she probably should pray to God instead, then Sam wouldn't do so – it was the moon who protected children, not God.

That Christmas was the first time she prayed to the moon.

* * *

A new memory appeared after a quick beam of light.

Samantha was sitting together with a middle aged man, her grandfather, in a living room together with her brother, Benjamin. She was now at the age of eight, making her brother the age of three. They were playing with cars on the carpet, but they were waiting for their parents to return. The time seemed to slowly pass by, but suddenly they heard the front door open and familiar voices sounding. Into the living room came both her parents, where the mother held a baby basket in her hands. Samantha quickly got up, looking excited at the baby in it.

"Shh," her mother whispered with a happy smile. "Don't wake her up. This is your new baby sister, say hello to her."

"Hello," Samantha said with a wide grin on her face. "Mother, what is she going to be called?"

Her mother looked at her husband behind her who looked everywhere else than at his family. He had taken it easy on her while she had been pregnant, only yelled at her from time to time, but she knew that once the baby girl had become a few weeks older, he would start it all over. And it probably would be worse. "I don't know Samantha, what do you think we should call her?"

Samantha looked at her mother with big eyes, obviously surprised that she got the honor of choosing a name for her new sister. It took a while before she decided a name; she kept looking at the baby and at everything around her to find some inspiration. "Ehm…" She looked troubled, but then it suddenly came to her. "Katrine," she finally said nervous of what her mother said to the name she had chosen.

Her mother looked at the baby girl. "Yeah, I think that's a good name; Katrine."

* * *

A quick beam of light showed alot of new memories, though they only lasted for a few seconds each. But they weren't happy memories. Not at all.

They showed the memories of Samantha's school life and private life.

The school life was all containing bullying and isolation from her classmates; no one talked to her, no one played with her. The only attention she got was when they called her things and names. Mostly she ignored it, but from time to time she ended up fighting with the bullies; both from her year, but also from the years over and under. No one seemed to like her. Not even the teachers, who said she shouldn't be that smart in class, saying that they didn't want to help her get something more advanced.

But she never mentioned anything that happened at school to her parents.

Her life at home wasn't any better. From time to time a happy glimpse of a memory appeared, but it was only brief before her father turned up, ruining the memory with violence and fights both between her mother, but also herself. She protected her siblings when her mother was at work, making her father beat up her instead of them. And despite the hits and bruises she got, and despite the harsh words from her father, she soon learned to hold back her tears until she was alone.

One of the memories quickly showed Sam sitting in her room at her desk, starring at the sky. She didn't share room with her brother anymore, so she was free to cry, but she didn't. She never did. Instead she locked all her tears into her heart. The Guardians heard her thoughts, right before the memory faded; "_Well, at least I learn how to fight_"

* * *

The short memories quickly disappeared and the Guardians now saw a classroom where Sam, now ten years old and with a blue eye, sat by herself, reading a book that seemed way too thick for some her age. The class mates around her ignored her completely, giving her glares and laughing at her.

"What are you reading?" A fat kid asked with a grin on his face. He didn't let Sam answer before he took the book and looked at it. "Myths and Legends?" He made an evil grin, and looked at the picture from the page she was reading – it had a scary looking dark figure on it with night black horses on each side on the man.

"Give it back Daniel," Sam said reaching for it, but he kept it out of her reach.

"Or what?" The fat boy, Daniel asked with a horrible grin on his face. "You're sending your _mother_ after me?" The kid laughed even harder as he said that. Tears appeared in Sam's eyes, but she didn't let them fall – she wouldn't let her classmates win this time. She couldn't let them see her tears, if she did then it would never get any better.

"My mother has nothing to do with this," she said with a shaking voice, as the memory of her mother came back. "Just give me the book!"

Daniel laughed, tossing the book out of the video, as some of his friends got to his side and started to bully her by saying all sorts of things towards her – calling her fat, ugly and stupid and that was why she didn't have any friends. They told her to go die somewhere since no one would miss her.

One of the boys even pushed her, making her fall back to the ground, hitting her head against the floor. She moaned, but the pain from the hit was nothing compared to the pain the words brought with them. Sam pushed herself up and grabbed her stuff before she ran outside, and was followed by the sound of laughter from the classmates.

Sam ran away from school and into the forest where she had her hideout under some bushes. She didn't stop before she reached it and first then, she collapsed on some of the blankets she had put there. She didn't cry, neither did she let tears fall – they had left her eyes the moment her classmates had started to call her names and things. It hurt really badly, but she was used to it by now, besides; if she wasn't strong, then she couldn't protect her brother and sister.

She knew she wasn't fat, and she knew she wasn't ugly. She knew that, but maybe she was the one who was wrong, and the other who was right? Maybe she really was something the cat had dragged home after it had been run over a few times?

The wind whispered in the leaves around her, almost sounding comforting. She closed her eyes, folding her hands as she lay on her back and started to silently pray to the moon though it wasn't visible at the sky at all.

* * *

The memory changed to what seemed to be a few hours later

Sam sat up, suddenly realizing she had fallen asleep and how bad it would be when she came home; her father would kill her. Sam grabbed her stuff before she quickly ran out of her hideout and through the deep forest. She could easily find her way out of the forest with her eyes closed, but she was still insecure when it was dark – she had to watch the watercourses after all; if she ended up in one of those she might not ever come home. She then wouldn't be able to protect her siblings from their father. If she wasn't there, he would take all his anger out on them instead of her.

Her run quickened as she continued through the forest, but something caught her eye, making her stop up. Something glowing.

The sound of a horse walking in the dark nearby sounded nearby, and made her follow it. She didn't know why; but a horse in the forest at night? There weren't many farms near the town, and those who were only had a few cows as far as she knew. She followed the sound further into the forest, and from time to time she got a glimpse of something glowing.

"Hello?" She called, suddenly rather afraid. What if killers were hiding in the trees or child molesters? What had she been thinking?

A movement nearby made her jump, as a big horse, with sand like fur darker than night that glittered in the weak light from the moon, and with eyes glowing yellow in the dark, appeared. It didn't look like any sort of horse she had ever seen. It was oddly beautiful.

She looked amazed at it, unsure whether to be scared of its intimidating appearance or to be fascinated by it. It neighed and neared her slowly, making her back away from it. Could it be she was dreaming or had escaped into her fantasy world again? The horse looked curious as she reached out to it and touched its muzzle. It felt … odd. Not soft as it did on normal horses, but more like … sand? It was cold by the touch and oddly terrifying, yet she didn't turn afraid. The horse looked at her like an owl, when a big grin appeared on Samantha's lips, and for some reason it soon became a chuckle. She had always found horses ugly, but she had to admit that this one, despite its unnatural appearance, was a real beauty. It was fascinating. "You're beautiful," she said to the horse with a fascinated voice.

Something ruffled in the bushes nearby, probably just the wind, but it made the horse disappear, almost as if it had melted into the darkness, only leaving a trace of black sand on her hand.

Had she turned around, she would have seen a pair of gold silvery eyes observe her from the darkness.


	18. Memories - 3 of 4

**This one might be rather long, but at least it gives away some of her past, no?**

**note: there'll only be one or two chapters more like this, so please be patient - the story will soon go back to normal!**

* * *

A new memory appeared before the Guardians. This time they were in the living room of Sam's home. On the floor, sitting with her brother and sister, now at age seven and four, sat Samantha, at the age of twelve. She was reading up from a book on her lap to her siblings. " … he came through the ice and looked at the moon, that chased the darkness away, and suddenly he wasn't scared anymore. And the Man in the Moon told him his name; Jack Frost. He was the spirit that controls the wind and the snow in the world. He creates the blizzards and snow days, and he's responsible for the feeling you get in your nose when you go outside into the cold, because then he's been nipping at your nose." She showed them a picture from the book of a boy who looked like something between a candy cane and a snowflake – nothing like the real Jack Frost.

The two children looked fascinated at the picture in the book. "But don't follow him if you see him," she added with a grin on her face as she caught her sibling's attention, trying to make them a bit scared. "… if you do so, he will cover your body with snow and you will never be found. And don't follow him out his frozen pond, and don't try to play with him on it – as the legend goes, he will make you play, yes, but then, when he has made you his friend, he will crack the ice under your feet and make you stay in the water until you drown." The kids watched in terror at their sister. "… because Jack Frost is an evil spirit, despite what many believes. He wants revenge on the children of the world for not having been able to save him from drowning in that frozen pond. He's just as bad as the Boogeyman."

The look on her sibling's face made her laugh. She didn't mean for them to become that scared, but it was just funny. "Oh, ha ha, don't worry, as long as I'm here Jack Frost won't be able to cover you with his snow, nor pull you under the water. You have my word on that."

They looked at her with big eyes as she crossed her heart, making it absolutely sure to them that she mean it, though she knew that Jack Frost was only a myth from one of their old folk lore's, but better for them to get to know the myths while they were small, no? "I promise on scouts honor, that I will always be there to protect you from him, and if I lie, I will jump around the world on my tongue until I die…"

* * *

A new memory appeared. It was a few weeks after the storytelling, and Samantha was arguing with her father, who she finally had become able to, almost, fully stand up against.

"You're the worst father ever!" She yelled truly hysteric and purring with anger and hatred against him. "No wonder mother left you, when you so fucking retarded! I'm amazed you can even talk, when you're lacking so much in the brain area, you cunt!"

"You shut your mouth you bloody bitch, or I'll shut it for you!" Her father yelled back, threatening to hit her.

"As if you have the guts, you fucking idiot!" She yelled back at him, completely aware that he would do it, but she didn't care. All she cared for was to win this argue. She didn't even care if he would beat her until she could no longer stand, as long as he didn't win. She would even kill him if she had to.

A sudden fist landed on her chin, sending her into the wall beside her. It shocked her for a short second, but she quickly regained her senses and tossed herself against him, ripping of his glasses and going for his eyes, as if on pure instinct, sending out a roar when she counter attacked. There was no way he should win this one.

He hit her on the head, kinging her on the sides, while she screamed and scratched him in the face, where she tried with all of her might to poke out his eyes, or at least damage his face so he wouldn't be recognizable.

He pulled her hair, sending her to the ground, but she was quickly up again, attacking the moment she got on her feet, going directly for his neck, where she somehow after having taken a few hits from him, had managed to place her hands and tightened her grip, trying to choke the older man in front of her – her eyes was lightening with anger and everything about her emitted the killing instinct.

The older man hit with a head-butt, giving her a nosebleed, it shocked her enough for her to loosen her grip just a bit, but it was enough for the man to get free and punch her in the stomach, making her bend over and gasp for air. He kicked her, sending her backwards into the sharp edge of the bureau behind her. Blood started to color the else golden brown hair; she didn't move for a while of pure shock as she felt the hot mass spread in her scalp. She gasped, her breathe had quickened and she shook from the impact.

Her father looked at her with a victorious mime and a horrible grin on his face. "I'll drive you to the hospital," he finally said; his voice self-righteous and gross with satisfaction.

"DON'T YOU DARE TUCH ME!" Samantha exclaimed as he reached for her hand to take her with him, ripping her arm out of his hand. "I can handle myself, so fucking go away you bloody scum! I don't need you!"

She received a slap in the face that made her ears ring, before he reached for her again. This time she bit him as hard as she could, like a wild animal. He winched and managed to shake her off, but only after a minute or so, after he had called her all the names he could get his mind on.

"Fucking do it yourself then!" He yelled and spit at her. Her only response was to hiss at him, with all the hate she could put into it.

Oh how she wished she could transform into a wild tiger, and just end his miserable little life right there.

She heard the front door slam as her father walked out of the house. As soon as she heard the car drive away, she started to scream all that she could. Not because she was sad, but because she was angry. Angry at her father. Angry at herself for having lost yet another battle, and angry that she didn't have the power to end his life.

A child peeked out from the frame opening, looking at her with cautious and slightly scared eyes. It took a while before she noted him, everything in her changed the moment she did – from angry and wanting to kill, to protective and apologizing. She even forgot the pain in the back of her head.

"Benjamin," she said in a shaking voice as she opened her arms and the boy ran over to her, hugging her tightly. He was shaking. "I'm so sorry that I wasn't able to win, BB…" She didn't say anymore, before she looked at the blue eye on her brother's face. She sighed, "I should have been there to protect you, if I had, he wouldn't have hit you… But at least I managed to make him go away, right?"

"Where is he going?" The boy asked.

She sighed. "Probably to one of his …" She stopped. How should she explain it to a child? She sneered and said the last word with all the disgust she could; "_Girlfriends_…"

* * *

The scene changed and a new memory appeared. It was early spring a year after, and Samantha stood in a meadow with a basket in her hands. Her two siblings were running around while joyfully collecting Easter Eggs, which they each brought back to her with wide grins on their faces. They were the only thing she found important in life.

She was enjoying the nice, early weather of spring, and closed her eyes, feeling the early morning sun on her skin, while humming a song for herself, but also for her siblings – they enjoyed it when she sang for them, though she honestly didn't understand why or why she kept doing... _this_.

"_Slow me Down_," she mumbled to herself when she remembered the name of the song. She had found the song in the archives of a library, and had fallen in love with it right away. It didn't have any music in it, only pure voice, but she liked it. But honestly everything had started to give less and less meaning now. Even her favorite songs had started to say nothing to her.

"Sammy," Katrine called, as she tumbled through the grass with an egg in her hands. "Sammy look!" A wide grin was to be spotted on the girl's face as she showed the egg to her older sister.

"It's beautiful, Kat," Samantha said in a gentle voice, and let the girl slide the egg into the basket. "It's really a nice catch, you should be proud of yourself; why don't you go out and find some more?" The grin became a proud smile as the girl got praised, before she ran off to find some new eggs.

Samantha got a sad look upon her face, as a pair of girls on her age walked by on the nearby path, all talking and laughing to each other, but once they spotted Samantha, they started to laugh even louder, and it was able to be heard long after they had passed. It hurt her heart and she wanted to cry, but she didn't, so she locked it up in her chest, just like she always did. Who needed friends anyway? She was fine on her own, right?

Her sad expression was quickly replaces with a smile, to hide it from her siblings who both brought a handful of eggs back.

* * *

A new memory appeared. Samantha was outside her old hideout. It was dark and the summer night was neither warm nor was it cold. She was beat up from yet another fight with her father, and since she didn't have any friends, this was where she went when she was sad. She didn't have to protect her siblings today – they were with their grandparents on a trip to a theme park for a few days, meaning she didn't have to protect anyone else than herself for once. It felt nice for a change to not having to worry about her siblings all the time.

Her empty gaze was at the moon. She had stopped praying to it when she had realized nothing happened, but she still liked the thought of someone being there for her. To see her when she felt invisible and lonely, though it was too late for that now. She longed for someone real. Someone who understood her and her pain. But she had searched and searched for it, and never found it.

A tear fell down her cheek, without her noticing, before it landed on her hand. Surprised she looked at it in wonder of what it was; she had completely forgotten how it was to cry at all. "Oh," she said with a dumbfound expression as she realized where the drop had come from. "A tear…"

She shook her head, and looked at the knife beside her, but she slowly looked away. If she was supposed to be doing this, then she wouldn't be doing it while crying. She wouldn't let anyone in this terrible place of a town get the pleasure of finding her with tears in her eyes, but on the other hand, did that even matter?

'_But does that honestly matter?'_ A voice asked as an echo to her thoughts, in her head. '_You're dead by then anyway, so the problem is what?'_

"The problem?" Her voice was low as the mist of emptiness covered her again. "I don't know…"

'_Then why are you hesitating?'_ The voice asked. '_You won't be alone once you do it._'

She stared at the knife again, before she looked upon the moon over her. "You were supposed to watch over children." Her voice was shaking as she spoke. "You were supposed to chase the darkness away from children's heart, just like in the story; you were supposed to listen to children's prayers and chase the King of Nightmares away when he's creating fear and darkness in children's hearts and lives. But you've done nothing of the sort." She looked down, before she lost it; "Why haven't you answered any of my prayers! Why haven't you chased the darkness away from my heart?! I have prayed and prayed and asked you to help me protect my siblings from that… that monster, but you have done nothing to help me at all! You're just sitting there in the sky and watching while I'm fighting to protect them! Why? What have I done to you to not be worthy of getting your help, huh? Answer me, Tsar Luna! ANSWER ME, PLEASE!" She kept yelling to the moon, while tears had started to fall from her cheeks, but for once she didn't care. She wanted answers from the moon, she wanted him to tell her why he hadn't chased the darkness away from her life, just like her mother had told her he would, if you prayed to him. She started to cry and sobs sounded through the forest as the only sound this time of night, as she cursed the Man in the Moon for not having answered any of her prayers, though she had asked for his help since that Christmas so long ago.

But she was alone, she had always been, so what made her think the moon ever had chosen to listen to her? What had made her think that the moon would be her friend? She had never had any friends, and she never would get some. But she didn't need any. She didn't, but why did she feel so sad? She was a strong girl, she stood up against that monster of a father she had whenever he was after her siblings so shouldn't the moon at least listen to her and help her do so? No, the story of Tsar Lunar was a mere fairytale, and she should have realized that sooner. She felt stupid for having believed in that fairytale for so long.

"Now this is interesting," a dark voice with a funny accent sounded behind her, making her slowly look over her shoulder, but saw nothing but darkness.

She quickly dried her tears away and got to her feet with the knife in her hand, ready to attack whoever it might be. "Who's there?" She asked cautious and tried to sound threatening, though her voice still was thick with sobs.

"Oh, you think you can be threatening; how adorable it is." The voice got closer, making her back off. "It's admirable that you've already locked your feelings away that quickly."

Her eyes widened as a tall man with pitch black hair, a black coat, grey skin, no eyebrows and glowing gold silvery eyes stepped out in the light of the moon. He looked curious at her, almost… friendly?

"Who are you?"

He ignored her and looked up at the moon above them. "Well old friend, seems like you for once doesn't answer the prayers of children; to think that you would leave this one alone when you have seen what she has done to protect her younger siblings, and seen how much she needs someone to help her. It's pitiful even for you. And you did hear her, didn't you? You heard her scream for your help, and told you that you have betrayed her. Amazing that you think she can handle everything on her own."

"Who are you?" She asked again, while looking confused from the stranger to the moon. For some reason she wasn't scared.

The man smiled and looked at her with a satisfied look. "And she isn't even scared for the King of Nightmares; what a brave soul you've left to be alone, my old friend."

Samantha looked at him with big eyes. "But you're only supposed to be a legend." Her voice was low, and without realizing she lowered her blade.

"But you see me. You talk to me. You even met one of my nightmares once." As he said that, a black horse walked up beside him, and she recognized it as the one she had met a few years back. "And since Tsar Lunar doesn't want to help you, then I thought I could, unless you want to continue what you came here to do; to kill yourself?" He gestured to the knife in her hand, and there was dry humor to spot in his voice.

"I don't need friends," Samantha said with sudden disgust in her voice, before she turned around to walk away. "Now leave me alone."

* * *

A new memory appeared. Samantha lay in her bed and tried to sleep, but she couldn't. She sat up and looked out the window, where she saw a nightmare standing in the garden, looking at her when she was visible in the window. She watched it for a while, knowing that the Nightmare King was observing her through it. He had done so for a whole year now.

'_You don't need to be alone,_' a voice said in the dark of her room. '_We can be together .._.'

"Shut up," she hissed, tired of him ruining her sleep once again. "I don't need you. I don't need anyone."

'_That's where you're wrong…_'

She shook her head and watched the horse in the garden. "No Pitch, I'm not. I can handle myself."

'_I know how it is to be alone. I understand your feelings…_'

"You don't understand anything, now leave me alone, and let me sleep for once." She turned and stood face to face to the King of Nightmares. She sighed. "Seriously, what do you want from me; haven't I told you already that I don't want to have anything to do with you?"

"I want the same as you do." His voice was low as he stood with his proud positure, observing her every move.

"I don't need any friends." Her voice was sure and strict. "And I most certainly don't need _you_."


	19. Memories - 4 of 4

**This chapter is probably really long. Just so you know. But it's back to action after this!**

* * *

The light faded as a new memory appeared.

The family was sitting around the table for dinner, eating the dinner Sam had created for them out of almost nothing. _Sammy the Kitchen Magician_, as her siblings called her whenever she made food for them.

The atmosphere was tense, and the father was correcting everything his children did. Samantha, age fourteen, was watching his every move, ready to step in if it was necessary for her to do so, while she was helping Katrine with cutting out her food.

"Give him a break," she finally said when he had corrected way too much on her younger brother. "He's just a kid; he'll learn the etiquette sooner or later, just give him time."

Her father looked at her and squeezed his eyes together. "You're not his mother, so you better stay quiet while I do the child-rearing."

"Oh, _now_ you're taking responsibility," she mumbled and rolled her eyes, as she cut the last piece of her sister's food.

Her father grunted and angrily told his son to hold correctly on the spoon and fork and to sit normally on the chair, which he didn't. Samantha told him to relax, but when Benjamin pointed his tongue towards his father, the man took his glass and furious threw it against the boy's head, where it hit, causing the boy to cry when he had gotten over the shock.

"What do you think you're doing?" Samantha yelled as she checked her brother's head. Luckily there was nothing to see. "He didn't do anything to be punished like that!"

"He should behave when I tell him to behave!" Their father yelled.

Samantha looked furious at him, before turning to her brother. "Take your sister up to your room and listen to some music and don't come out before I come and get you." Despite that Benjamin was crying he took his sister upstairs, and they soon heard the music from his room.

"You think you can always be there for them?" Her father asked with an angry expression. "You can't be there for them forever. Someday you're gone, and they will have to face the consequences of their actions."

Her eyes were filled with disgust as she looked upon her father. "I will protect them from you even if it's the last thing I'll do. No matter how long it will take, no matter how much I will have to fight you, I will _always_ be there for them, to protect them from the likes of you." Her body was shaking from the anger she held in her body towards the man in front of her – she hated him more than anything.

"I am your father, and I demand you to follow my orders and show me some respect."

Sam almost laughed at what he said. "_Respect_?" Her voice was filled with disbelieve and pure disgust. "I can't show someone like _you_ respect! A parent who can't show his children the love they deserve, and who doesn't know how to raise them without violence, isn't someone who deserves _respect_."

* * *

The memory ended, as her father charged against her, and was replaced with Samantha standing with one of Pitch's nightmare horses in the garden, late fall. She caressed it in on its muzzle and looked sad.

"I can help you win against him."

She looked over her shoulder to see Pitch appear in the dark. "You never give up, do you?" She asked him with a sigh and looked back at the mare, which looked at its master.

The Nightmare King looked at her for a while, before he placed a hand on her shoulder and smiled, causing her to flinch when she saw it, even though she wasn't afraid of him.

A dry chuckle sounded from him, though there was no humor to spot. "What makes you think I haven't?"

"If that's the case, then why do you keep observing me?" Her question seemed to take the Boogeyman by surprise, though he was quick to hide it, as he always was. He rolled his eyes with an annoyed frown on his face, mumbling something about her being an annoyance, which was much to her displease.

She turned away from him and his mare, and started walking through the garden, but she stopped up, apparently hesitating. "You know I don't have any friends, and I know you don't care about that, I don't either; but all I need someone to _see_ me, to _talk_ to me. But if you're only going to treat me like _that_," she gestured to the annoyed frown he had on his face. Her voice was shaking with disbelieve. It was obvious she was hurt. "Then leave me alone. I don't need someone like you to keep stomping on me. I know you're the King of Nightmares, and I know you spread fear and kill hopes and dreams, but I thought you of all people would be…" She trailed off; her voice sounded rather hurt. She shook her head, ashamed of herself of having thought of him like that. Nothing ever changed.

* * *

The memory now showed Samantha, age sixteen, with a broken arm (thanks to her father), who was walking home with her siblings at evening through the snowy streets.

"I don't want to go home," Katrine said, knowing what awaited them.

Samantha exchanged looks with her brother, before she sat down on her knees in front of the eight year old girl. "Come on Kat, don't be like that…"

"But I don't want to go home. I don't want to hear him yell at you or see him hit you!" Tears had started to appear in her eyes and she started to sob.

"Aw Kat," Sam said and hugged her sister tightly. "Don't worry about it. I'm used to it; besides if I'm not there, then he will take out all his anger at you guys. I'm doing this to protect you from him."

Katrine was about to protest, but Samantha smiled a gentle smile to her. "Don't worry; both of you. I'm not letting him get a chance to hit you as long as I'm around I will protect you from him, and if something ever happens o me, I will come back to haunt him forever." She nervously laughed. "Do you remember what I told you guys I would do once I turn eighteen?" She looked at both her siblings with a small smile on her lips.

"You'll take us away from that place," her brother said, causing his big sister to smile widely, though the expression on his face had her worried.

"Exactly, BB, I'm going to take you both away from there and we're going to move to an apartment near our grandparents, that way we can visit them whenever we want, and we won't have to worry about father at all. I promise!" Kat didn't seem to believe her, so she crossed her heart; "on scout's honor." She hesitated before she continued. "When we come home, I'll tell both of you a fairytale mother told me when I was a child and had lost hope in the light of this world."

They looked confused, yet interested at her; they didn't remember their mother that well, so whenever Sam told something about her, they were always willing to listen. "What's it about?" Katrine asked.

Samantha smiled sadly as she remembered the story her mother had told her oh so many years ago. "It's about how a great man defeated the darkness of our world and created hopes and dreams; a story about how the Moon came to be and how the King of Nightmares was defeated."

* * *

A new memory appeared before the Guardians, who could sense from Tooth that they were nearing the end – they only barely heard Tooth said it was the last of the memories, before their minds once again was filled with the memories of the life before Samantha had become who she was now. It was way more detailed than any of the others.

Samantha now stood in the garden, wearing familiar summer clothes – orange shorts, with a load of small brown belts, and an orange T-shirt, which she wore a brown, short west over. On her feet, a pair of big old military boots, and on top of her head, holding back her long golden brown hair, was a pair of pilot goggles. The exact same clothes as she wore now.

She had her eyes closed as she enjoyed the cool shadows from the big tree beside her – the sun was way too hot to be in, since there was a drought, which was highly unusual for such a northern country as Denmark, where it was supposed to rain almost every other day. But it hadn't. Not for a whole month.

The plants had withered and they cracked in the dry, dusty wind that went through the air, causing the soon to be eighteen year old girl to start coughing. Oh how she wished for it all to start raining soon; she was sick and tired of the plants to die, and she was worried for the animals in nature. But she knew there was nothing she could do to help them. She sighed and turned to the sleeping children on the blanket beside her – well children was something you almost couldn't call them anymore; Benjamin was thirteen now and Katrine was ten. They grew up so fast.

If only the next week could pass quickly, so she could turn eighteen. Then she finally could take them away from that hell house of a home they lived in. Their father had become worse than ever, part of it was probably because Sam had finally won against him in a fight, causing that horrible man to have run away for a week to one of his hookers somewhere at the other side of the mainland, on which they lived. But he had returned, and that time Sam hadn't been able to get her frying pan in time to hit back, causing her to almost not be able to stand when he had been done with her.

She frustrated kicked a stone and sent it flying across the withered area of their garden. Their father wasn't home yet; he was still working at the office at the military base. How he had managed to get in there was a mystery to her, and she was certain that the whole thing with him being more violent had started when he had started working there.

With a deep sigh, she was about to sit down in the grass beside her siblings, once she suddenly heard a car in the driveway, that made her freeze, knowing who was coming home. "Benjamin, Katrine!" She shook both her siblings, desperate to wake them up. "Wake up!" Her desperation rose when they didn't wake up. "Wake up!" She yelled.

Her brother looked annoyed at her with half open eyes. "What is it Sammy?"

She didn't answer – the desperate look in her eyes was enough answer for him. He quickly got up and shook their yet sleeping younger sister, waking her from her sweet slumber, before they all ran as fast as they could to the front door.

Once their father had started working at the military base, he had gotten this psychopathic idea of them being his own private soldiers, and he had demanded that they followed his orders more than ever. It was crazy, unnatural, and wrong in so many ways, and it had been going on for months now, much to the children's displease, but they knew that they only had to put up with it for another week, and then it would all be over. Then, they would be able to move away.

The three siblings stood in line, side by side by the door, with the exact way of standing as their father had demanded them to, with help from Samantha, who was helping them do it right. She didn't care about herself, only if her siblings could go unharmed for another week. She quickly corrected Kat's posture, before she helped Benjamin. Straight-backed, head high, the feet together, and both hands behind the back.

The garden gates opened, and up the path came their father with his proud posture, all dressed in military clothes, which Sam still thought was ridiculous; why did he have to wear it anyway, when he was only sitting at some office there?

Sam snorted as she saw the expression on his face. Anyone would believe that that man was a nice guy, who was nice to children and couldn't hurt a fly, a man who always wore a charming smile when he was among other people, and was seen as a good example for every other person. But his children knew better; they knew that was only an illusion he made for the outside world, so they wouldn't see the monster that hid beneath the surface; a monster that would beat up his kids if they did even the smallest of things wrong.

And they all hated him – all three of them, but most of all, Samantha hated him more than anything.

He stopped and looked at them with a hideous expression, studying if their postures were correct. As he made eye-contact with Sam, she send the most hateful she could create, silently telling him to fuck off and leave them alone, but he ignored it, continuing to the others. The look he sent to her siblings – oh how she wanted to kill him for that.

They all sighed with relief when he walked into the house, Sam almost laughed of it, trying to keep up her siblings spirits. "One week, sweethearts," she whispered to her siblings, afraid of their father hearing them, though he was inside. "One week and we can leave this hell house." She made her siblings smile, as she said it.

The memory jumped to a few hours later, where evening had started to settle. They were in the living room, a movie ran in the television, and on the table were leftovers from dinner and candlesticks. Sam and her father was having yet another discussion, but the memory didn't show how it started, only that he had come downstairs and they suddenly had started to yell at each other.

"How do you explain that such a big amount of money has disappeared from my bank account?"

"I don't know, maybe you've used them on your hookers?" She angrily yelled back with disgust in her voice. Truthfully though, she had taken them - quite a large amount to be exact, so she and her siblings could manage to live a good life together. How she had done it? She had used his credit card and, over the last years, taken a small amount each time he had left it at home, but now, since there was so little time until they left, she had taken a large amount. How big? Let's just say it's a five digits number. But she wasn't afraid of him suspecting her – he had no proofs.

"Don't you dare talk to me like that," he threatened, but was cut off, as his only son stood up and interrupted. "Dad, relax for once, it might be a hacker, or that you've simply forgotten what you used them on."

Sam eyes went wide as her brother spoke, unsure of what would happen now; he had never spoken against him before, but she most certainly didn't want him to. He was so fragile. "Benjamin, shut up …" Her voice was low, but it quickly became a loud yell, when her father turned around and hit him. Then, something snapped in her.

What happened next was only a blur in the memories, but once it evened out, Samantha and her father was the only once in the living room, both hitting at each other, not wanting the opponent to win. They hadn't noticed the candlesticks that had tipped over, and had started to slowly set fire to the tablecloth.

_I'm gonna kill him_.

That was the only thought that filled Samantha's head while they fought. She received a hit on the shoulder, but in return hit the man in front of her on his knee. Her eyes were lightening and her attack's was quick, though they could not compare to the strength the hits from the man held. But the problem was; she was beginning to tire.

She knew Pitch was watching as the two of them fought. She had seen his eyes in the dark corner of the room, but for now, she didn't care. All she cared for was the man in front of her. She wanted to kill him. She wanted to torture him for every time he had done something against her siblings. She didn't care for herself. She never had. She just wanted to rip him apart. To make sure he never could touch them again, her precious siblings. She didn't even know if she could call them her _siblings_. They were so much more. Much more valuable than anything else in the whole wide world. But this monster soiled them with all his anger and hate. He made them feel pain they had never deserved.

The fire had started to spread, it had settled in the sofa, but the two fighting figure didn't notice. They didn't see anything but the one they fought. It was first when it started to spread to the wall that they noticed. It shocked them both to see, but the father was the first to shake it off. He planted a fist directly in his daughter's stomach, followed by one directly in her face when she bent forward of the impact, sending her to the floor, coughing and gasping for air. "Is that all you can do? I thought you better than that."

Her father towered above her as she was about to get up, but he closed his grab around her throat, trying to choke her. It was at this moment Pitch decided to walk out of the shadows.

"You know, I can help you. I can sense your fear. You're afraid that you won't be able to make this fight; especially not due to the fire spreading."

She ignored him. She needed air, and she needed it fast, so she tried kicking her father in the groin but the man just hit her with a fist in her face.

"You need my help. Right now, you're afraid of being killed by the hands of this man. But that is not all. You're afraid of what will happen to your precious siblings if you're killed. But be glad that whey went out in the garden. They won't be hurt by the fire."

She shook her head. She had to do this on her own. She needed to end this man's life on her own, even if she was running out of oxygen. She gagged, desperately trying to remove the hands on her throat. Black spots showed in her vision, as unconsciousness started to roll over her.

"You… monster …" She managed to hiss through her teeth towards her father. She wouldn't lose consciousness. She couldn't, but the world started to spin, and her chain of thoughts was about to break. But she still fought against the man with all her might.

Pitch rolled his eyes, annoyed of her stubbornness, and yanked the man away from the almost unconscious girl on the floor. He was thrown a few meters away and almost seemed shocked of what had happened, but then his eyes fell on the fire, that had spread even more, and on his almost unconscious daughter on the floor. He stood up, slowly and with disgust, hatred and strange satisfaction in his face. "You're right," he said, as he started to walk away. "I _am_ a monster, so this won't come as a shock." Sam looked at him with eyes wide with horror and betrayal as he disappeared through the door and locked it behind him. Never had she suspected that he would do … _this_.

It didn't take long before she lost consciousness, as the fire spread around her, and the smoke and heat had started to really take effect.

And so ended the memories.

* * *

The Guardians once again stood on one of the platforms of the underground marble tower. They didn't move. They didn't know what to say. They just stood there in shock and it took a long while before they looked at each other, all thinking the same thing. "That was…" Bunny started, his voice unsure of how to start, but he trailed off as Tooth fell to her knees on the floor and started to cry.


	20. Searching for Clues

( …) The Guardians once again stood on one of the platforms of the underground marble tower. They didn't move. They didn't know what to say. They just stood there in shock and it took a long while before they looked at each other, all thinking the same thing. "That was…" Bunny started, his voice unsure of how to continue, but he trailed off as Tooth fell to her knees on the floor and started to cry.

North lay a hand on her shoulder to comfort her, but he was just as shocked over what he had seen as the other was.

"T – That poor child," Tooth said through her sobs. "It's so horrible! How could someone treat children like that? He even drove her to wanting to kill herself!"

"Not to mention left her to die in a fire," Jack added as he leaned against his staff. He couldn't believe a parent would do that to their own child, it was just... unbelievable.

Sam had been a normal human girl, who had had a terrible childhood. Her father had been a violent (not to mention psychopathic) man, who she hated more than anything, and he almost seemed to have enjoyed punishing his children for mere details (especially after he had started working in the military, which the Guardians had seen in some quick glimpses, to quite the horror – it was stuff that would mark one for all eternity), not to forget that she had been bullied through her whole childhood and never had any friends. She was unbelievable protective of her younger siblings and did everything for them – even getting into countless of fights with her father, (especially after her mother suddenly had left, but when that happened, the memories didn't show), not to mention stealing a large amount of money. They even meat more than life for her. Samantha had been a strong believer in Manny, even prayed to him every night before she went to bed, until she had wanted to kill herself, but had been interrupted by Pitch, whom she apparently believed in, but wasn't afraid of (probably due to the fairytale her mother had told her when she was a child). She had been very fond of holidays, and she always kept strong for her siblings, to make sure they never saw her as weak, even when the last memory had come. But whether Pitch had spoken the truth when he said her siblings had been outside when the fire had spread was uncertain. They hadn't seen it in the memory, not even how Sam had been turned into a spirit – had she been burned alive, or turned into an immortal before it happened… But one thing was certain; now she was neither spirit nor nightmare.

He had to admit, that what she had been up against in her mortal life seemed worse than his 300 years of solitude.

North exchanged looks with Bunny; "At least we know Pitch and that girl met when she was still a child. She's no ordinary spirit."

North nodded to what Bunny said.

"You never came that Christmas," Jack said after a while, when Tooth had almost stopped sobbing. It had been bothering him a little while they had watched the memories – why North hadn't come. "Even though she had looked forward to it, you didn't come."

"I know ..." North trailed off, worried for what was going on. Not only because of the precious time they were wasting by standing there talking while Pitch and Samantha was out doing whatever they did, but also because all what they had seen had caused many more questions in his mind; how could a child like her, so innocent and loving and caring, have been treated like that and still managed to keep herself from going insane? And how could he not have noticed such bravery in a child, who was on one of his lists? He knew every child on the list, knew everything about whether they were brave or cowards, naughty or nice. He was sure he had been through every single name on each of his lists. "I guess I missed that child on my route that Christmas."

The Guardians looked at North with a worried expression. He never missed a single child whenever he was out delivering gifts, not even when he was behind schedule.

Tooth was back in the air, tracks of tears could easily be spotted on her cheeks, but she didn't cry anymore. She put the memory box back into the hole where it belonged, before she turned to her friends with a thoughtful expression on her face. "Those memories … They were supposed to give us clues, weren't they?" She looked at North. "They were supposed to help us figure what was going on; you said so, North, but tell me if this haven't only created more questions."

North hesitated to answer, but as he had opened his mouth, he shut it, apparently unsure of what to say.

"I thought so. I knew it wouldn't bring any answers to see the memories, but you forced me to show them anyway, and now we aren't even a step closer."

"Oi, that's not true Tooth, we know her past, and we know how much her siblings meant for her." He turned to Jack. "What did Pitch say when you met him when you met him?"

Jack looked confused at the Pooka, who seemingly had gotten some sort of idea. "He asked if she had been visiting her family, but I don't see how that's going to help us."

Bunny crossed his arms and seemed deep in thoughts for a second, before his big green eyes lighted up, just like North's did whenever he got an idea. "What if we find this family of hers? If we're lucky we might see her, and if Tooth s willing to let us use a few of her fairies, we can see what she do with them once she catches them."

"You think I will lend out my fairies?" Tooth asked with a low, disbelieving voice. "Have you noticed how few I have left?"

"Don't you want them back?" Bunny asked with a raised brow. "Or do you want to continue like this?"

Tooth looked at him with disbelieve in her eyes, before the two of them almost started to argue whether to use her fairies or not, which was quite unusual for Tooth to do. Normally she was so happy and caring, and never raised her voice, unless her life depended on her. Well if you looked away from the tooth gathering Jack had helped with a few hours earlier. But apparently even the Tooth Fairy got cranky when she needed some rest.

In the meantime Sandy had come. He had been informed by the yetis that North was at the Tooth Palace, so he had come as quickly as he could, and was now being informed of what had happened while he had been out giving dreams by North, and once North came to the memory part, Tooth pulled out the tooth box and showed him the memories. It was much easier than having to explain what they had seen, and it seemed she was too caught up in her discussion with Bunny to care whether or not someone saw the precious memories of others. It took about half an hour before Sandy snapped out of it and came back to reality, apparently just as shocked as the rest of the Guardians had been by seeing them.

"Will you two stop it?" North exclaimed with such a loud voice that it shocked both of them, making them shut up and stare at him with surprised expressions. "We don't have all day; we're losing believers each passing second; you should know better."

The two looked flustered at one another, before mumbling something that sounded like apologies. Sandy rolled his eyes over the pair, though he was rather surprised over having actually seen Tooth argue with someone. In the millennia's the two had known each other he had never seen her do anything like that. Of course she had yelled of Pitch a few times, and even at the Leprechaun and April Fool when they had messed with her, but else she was always calm.

North sighed frustrated as he crossed his arms looking at the two of them. "We have to find what Pitch is doing and see if we can stop him one way or other."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Bunny looked at Tooth, who was putting back the tooth box into the hole. She seemed ashamed of herself having been in an argument, but Bunny had understood that there was no way she would let them use her fairies as bait. Which was unfortunate, since then his plan would be useless. He started walking back down the pathway, followed by the others, while they were discussing what to do, though none of them had a clue.

"We could always split up and then search for them, and then signal the others of it," Tooth suggested when they was at the entrance of the ruin. She looked hopeful at her friends who considered the plan, but then nodded as they all agreed to it, all three of them. Wait… three? Tooth's eyes got wide as she realized they were one member short. "Where's Jack?"

They hadn't seen him since before Tooth and Bunny had started to argue. "Must've left or something while we were arguing." Bunny mumbled when he came back from where they came – he had run back to see if they had forgotten Jack, but he simply wasn't there.

The Guardians looked at each other – had it been any other day, they wouldn't have had anything against it Jack just leaving, but now, since Pitch was back, they were worried for his well-being.

"Burgess?" Tooth suggested, but the other Guardians shook their heads.

"Probably Denmark, trying to find that girl," Bunny said annoyed before he jumped into a tunnel beside him and disappeared, leaving a flower behind, as it closed.

* * *

And Bunny was right – Jack was on his way to the little Scandinavian country in the Northern part of Europe. He was being carried by the wind while his mind was filled with what they had seen in the memories.

What a horrible childhood.

And according to the memories, she didn't even know what had truly happened to her mother, only what her father had told her; her mother had left her children behind to leave for another man, because she didn't want them anymore because they didn't behave. It had left that poor nine year old child devastated to know that her mother wanted neither her nor her siblings anymore, but even more that she wasn't there to protect them anymore.

Jack grinned his teeth in anger. How could a father even make himself say something like that to a child?

As soon as Jack hung in the sky above the country, he started searching. What he was searching for? The town that girl had grown up in. He had recognized the town from one of his trips around the world, and had made a snow day there once, though that was a long time ago – that place couldn't keep its snow on the ground for more than a day, and Jack had to create two crazy blizzards in a row once in order to make the snow stay just a bit longer.

Finally the town he was searching came into view, and with a low thud, the winter spirit landed on one of the streets in the small town named Vemb – it didn't seem to contain more than 5 000 citizens at max.

Jack walked down town, not really sure what he was looking for, he just knew that this was a good place to start searching for clues.

As he headed down the main street of town, he studied the surroundings – all the houses were made out of bricks, and there were loads of trees along the roads. Most of the shops seemed to have closed down many years ago, and the only ones that were still in business was a local kiosk at the train station, a small co-op, an electrician and a recycling business. That was it. Nothing was even big in this town - the tallest building was a three stored and housed the kindergarten which had a huge playground. The school, which was located right behind it, wasn't even as big – but then again most of it had been locked up because there was almost no kids in town anymore, and it had threatened with being shut down (Jack only knew that thanks to the memories, and he also knew that Samantha hated that place so much that she had wanted to put that place on fire, but didn't do it, because she didn't have the remedies). There weren't many citizens on the street either, and none of them noticed Jack at all.

He continued his walk, not noticing the small black fairies following him from a distance – more and more appeared from all sort of places and started to observe him the more time he spent walking around the streets, until he came to a driveway at the edge of town, which seemed oddly familiar. He walked up the driveway, which was surrounded in trees that gave it a forest like atmosphere, and soon came to an old, rusty garden gate. Behind it, he spotted the remains of the yellow two stored house from the memories, mostly burned down to the ground. Plants were growing all over it, and it didn't seem like there had been anyone for years. Had they really not tried to rebuild their home after the fire?

Jack easily jumped over the garden gate and started to wander around the ruin of the childhood home of Pitch's ally. What had survived the flames was long gone and now all that was left was collapsed walls and a garden growing wild all over the place

He honestly didn't really know what he had expected; a new house housing her family?

Most likely.

With a swing with his staff, he froze the nearby tree, which he recognized as the one Sam's siblings had been sleeping under in the last memory, and didn't notice the huge amount of fairies watching him from their hiding places in the big trees surrounding the garden.

A few of the fairies took off when they had observed the spirit enough to realize he was searching for something – they had to warn Mama about the intruder.

The winter spirit searched the ruins of the burned down house, but he couldn't find anything useful. All he got out of it, was reseing some of the memories from the memory box as he moved through the ruins. He was wondering how she could keep her head determined to not think about her own safety once in a while with a father like that. Of course it was brave of her to have done so, but after having seen the countless punishments she had received because of it, you would think that she would at least think a little for her own safety and well-being.

Jack shook his head and jumped into the air, hovering above town, with an examining gaze, until his eyes fell on the park nearby, and he took off towards it, knowing that her old hideout was located there, though it was most likely destroyed – it had been ten years since the fire.

As he began to take a look around, he couldn't help but laugh of himself when he realized something; here he was, the irresponsible, mischievous, childish Guardian of Fun, taking matters into his own hands and search for clues. How mature of him.

The other Guardians better be proud of him for doing this, he thought and evaded a branch from a needle tree beside him.

At the meantime, the fairies had reached their Mama and were now heading back to town. Luckily Mama had been nearby, so they could reach her in only ten minutes, but she was furious. Oh so very furious. What did the Guardian of Fun have to do in her home town anyway, didn't he have to go out and create some silly snow on the Devil Island or something like that?

She wished the Guardians would just disappear already; it would make her job so much easier. She had been in the town nearby, trying her best to help Pitch with his plan with crushing children's believes, and she was doing a pretty good job – Pitch had looked very satisfied last she was him, and that made her happy. When Pitch was happy, she was happy. It was part of her nature to be happy when those she cared for was felt well, and Pitch was one of them. He was her friend after all.

When her fairies had come and told her about the Guardian, she had almost gotten a heart-attack. What in the world was he doing there of all places, and why in the world was Jack Frost snuffing around her hom- … No, she wouldn't call it a home, more like a prison where she had lost a huge part of her soul to when the fire killed her. She hated that place more than anything, even the entire stupid town and its terrible citizens. Of course she had gotten her revenge on most of them, by letting them feel the same pain she had felt for all of her mortal life, she wasn't that stupid to let the opportunity to torture the sanity out of their souls slip when fate provided it.

The expressions they made with pure horror, when the nightmares she gave ended, and it had totally been worth her friendship with Pitch. She made a sadistic laughter when she remembered when she had given Daniel, the fat kid that had bullied her through all of her childhood, a nightmare that sent him to the asylum because he had gone crazy from it - it had been one of her better creations no doubt about that. And then there was her other classmates, theirs hadn't been as bad, but they had left mental wounds on them.

But she shouldn't think about that, right now, she had another problem on her hands, and that one was named Jack Frost. No wonder the air had become so chilly all of the sudden.

A sudden thought appeared in her mind, and started to spread fear in her; what if he found the fairies?

The young winter spirit flew around the forest behind the park, just like he had done the past half hour. He couldn't find even the slightest clue of anything going on, but he didn't even know just _what_ he was looking for to be honest. Basically anything could be what he was looking for, but he just didn't know it.

He was so distracted with searching, that the fairies that followed him went unnoticed in the forest. They knew they should be on guard – Mama wouldn't be happy if she found them being careless around one of the Guardians.

Sam soon caught up with the winter spirit, but she kept her distance, not wanting to gain any attention, especially not when she saw her fairies being so close to him. "What are you guys doing?" She exclaimed, gaining the attention of her fairies. "Do you _want_ him to see you? Do you want to be exposed so our plan is useless? Get out of here, I don't need to be worrying about ya' all – go hide somewhere, or go to Pitch I don't care, just stay out of sight and hearing." They did as she said, knowing their Mama was angry at them, but only because she was worried.

Samantha rolled annoyed her eyes and turned, only to face a single of her faires that had stayed behind. It hung in the air, looking at the winter spirit flying around. Its eyes grew bigger and bigger, as if it was slowly realizing something.

The fire spirit quickly snapped the fairy as it began to chirp very loud, and made it quiet in her hands, but it was too late, the Guardian had heard it. He stopped up mid-air and looked around for where the chirping had come from.

Jack was sure he had heard it; it wasn't just his imagination, was it? It had been a high-pitched chirp that almost sounded like a call out to him, but it had been cut off rather fast, but not fast enough to not gain the attention of the winter spirit. Could it really be…?

"Baby Tooth?"

* * *

**I've might added a few things from Sam's life that wasn't mentioned in the memory chapters, so if some stuff shows up that you don't remember reading, then it's just some added memories that didn't have to be put into the previous four chapters, so don't worry about it.**

**Oh, and I've updated chapters 2 – 5, so I suggest you reread those, because I don't want to cause any confusion if some stuff comes up that you don't recall having read about before at all. It's nothing major, but it's always nice to know when some stuff has changed, right?**


	21. Reunited

"Baby Tooth," the young guardian called again. He knew hadn't heard wrong; he couldn't have. "Baby Tooth, are you out there?" There was no response, only the crushing silence of the darkening twilight forest, and he couldn't see anyone nearby at all. "Baby Tooth!"

But Baby Tooth couldn't come to him. She was stuck in the hands of Samantha, who stood as frozen in the tree top nearby. She knew that if she was found out, it would be all over for Pitch's grand plan. If she ruined it all by allowing that Frost kid to find her fairies, then Pitch wouldn't forgive her. They had been doing so well so far – stay in the shadows and make the believers disappear slowly without the Guardians noticing, right until Pitch got bored and wanted to get some fun out of it, by letting things speed up, which only gained the attention of the Guardians.

Jack Frost turned towards the direction where he had heard the chirping. He called again as he flew towards the direction; if Baby Tooth was here, then she might know where the rest of the missing fairies were located, which would be a huge help for the Guardians.

"You know," Sam whispered to the struggling fairy in her hands, when Jack had passed them both – she had somehow managed to lower her temperature enough so she could go unnoticed by him, when he flew past under them. "Mama is _very_ disappointed in you. You let that guy hear you, so now he's searching for you. Had you only kept your mouth shut, then we could have gone away from here unnoticed, but _no_, of course _you_ of all fairies absolutely had to regain some of your senses. Do you even remember how hard it was for me to capture you after you left that kid's side?"

Baby Tooth looked at her with big eyes, when she heard the venom in her voice. She knew she had messed up and that Mama was angry, but she hadn't been able to control herself when she had seen that white haired spirit with the pearly teeth. She had somehow started to remember him a little – he was important to her, even more important than Mama was… As the two girls made direct eye-contact, and Baby Tooth saw the hatred in the girl's eyes, it was like someone hit a light switch in her head, clearing it for the darkness that had slowly started to fade when she had seen the winter spirit.

This girl, who held Baby Tooth and was filled with such anger and sadness, wasn't Mama. Mama didn't steal children's hopes and dreams, in order to toss the world into darkness and fear to help Pitch.

No.

Mama was a good person. Mama was gentle and caring and loving towards everyone and loved teeth even more sometimes. Mama was colorful and a bright person, who didn't let herself get tainted by the darkness in her heart like this girl.

Mama was the Guardian of Memories.

The small fairy began to struggle to get away as if its life depended on it. She couldn't stay with this girl. This girl was the enemy, who had captured so many of her sisters that Mama, her true Mama, was in trouble.

"No! No stop it!" Samantha exclaimed, as the fairy began to scream-chirp as loud as it could. The nightmare sand began to fade from it and its colorful plumage returned; its black feathers became like the exotic hummingbird plumage it had been before.

Baby Tooth's scream gained the attention of Jack Frost, who right away spun around and flew up over the tree where Sam was hiding and struggled against the wild fairy.

With a swing with his staff, Jack sent a wave of frost against the tree where he had heard the desperate scream from Baby Tooth. Right before it hit, and froze the entire tree, Sam shot out from the tree and now hung in the air above, face to face with the young winter spirit, who too had entered the night sky above the trees.

Jack looked at her with wide eyes, actually surprised to have found her hiding there, but once his eyes fell upon the struggling Baby Tooth in her hands, his entire expression changed. "I see… I didn't know Pitch was so desperate with getting coins for his teeth, that he'd sent you out to capture one of the tooth fairies," Jack said with a jokingly tone in his voice, though he was actually really angry at the girl in front of him for what she was doing to Baby Tooth right in the moment. He didn't even notice he had started to make it snow.

The fire spirit rolled her eyes. He was the guardian of _fun_? That remark wasn't even the slightest entertaining.

"Well, I suggest you let go of Baby Tooth and release the other fairies or whatever you've done with them, and stop destroying the children's believes," Jack continued casually, and pointed his staff against her. He wanted to attack, but he didn't; if he did, he might accidently hit Baby Tooth. "Else thing's might get rather _cold_ around here, if you understand where I'm hinting at."

"You think I'll just let you get the fairies back just because you're asking for it?" She crossed her arms while almost clinging to the fairy in her hand, and raised an eyebrow. Her Dane accent really came through as she spoke this time; "you didn't even say _please_, so I won't do it, besides what fun is it, if not at least one of you Guardians lose something precious to you to keep up the game? I'd say it's only fair since it's five against two, thought of course Pitch and I have better plans than the likes of you."

Jack snarled before choosing to tease her, in hope that he could make her let go of Baby Tooth one way or another. "But you don't seem to have completely turned to the dark side, now do you?"

"Oh?" She said with a slight interested look on her face. "I _got_ to hear this."

"Well," Jack began, as he began to circle around her, though with some distance between them, though their eyes never left sight of each other. "First and all then you came back with my staff when I was in need of it." He grinned and tilted his head. "I wonder why?"

Sam shook her head in annoyance toward his question. "I can't fight someone who's unable to fight back; I'm not a coward."

Jack nodded slowly, continuing his circling around her. "But you said that you had searched your ass off to find it to me?"

"That was a lie," she said and tightened her grip around the fairy in her hand, wondering how long his questioning would continue. "I stumbled upon it and I knew it was yours, so all I did was to retrieve it to its rightful owner. I'm no thief."

"And when I had passed out…?" He asked, letting the question hang in the air between them.

The fire spirit took a quick breath to surprise of the sudden question, but she kept her cool. "I have no idea what you're …"

Jack cut her off, seeing the slight hidden embarrassment in her face, though he had to admit she hided it well – the ability had been gained over her mortal years. "I'm _sure_ you don't~" His grin made her frown in hatred towards him, but he was enjoying this how messed up it then was, to enjoy interrogating people – it was like playing a detective. "But judging from your reaction, I'd say that you _do_ care." He smiled widely as he said the last part, knowing that she would react just like Bunny, and he was right.

"Shut up!" She exclaimed, her eyes flaming up like a fire in sudden controlled anger. Since her turning, she had had trouble with managing her anger. "I don't have time for this, so if all you want to do is to ask me about all sort of stuff, then leave me alone." She turned and began to fly away, but Jack followed her quickly and flew in front of her, cutting her off.

"So how does it work anyway?" Jack asked casually, leaning back in the air with his hands behind his head, acting like he didn't see her as a threat at all. "Did you promise Pitch some eyebrows in order to let you join him? Because I can tell you, that I think that's the only reason he's so grumpy all the time – he's jealous of us having eyebrows, when he doesn't. It would explain a lot you know."

Sam looked at the winter spirit; frustrated that he couldn't just let her fly off, but even more that she found what he had said about Pitch to be entertaining. "It's none of the sort," she said coldly. "He's my friend. That's all there is to it."

Jack almost choked on what she said. Had his ears betrayed him? "_Friend_?" Jack exclaimed. Had he had water in his mouth, he would have spit it all out like one big fountain. "Pitch doesn't care for any other than himself. You're just as much his friend as I am!"

"Pitch is a good man, and he cares for me."

"He's only using you. He doesn't even care for you; he only wants you for your power to put the power into darkness. He's friend with none other than himself – when he's gotten what he want, then he'll get rid of you because you're useless to him then."

"No. No he... He wouldn't do that." The sudden change in tone and expression from the fire spirit in front of him came as a surprise; her voice had lowered into a shaking speech. Her expression was a mix of fright and nervousness, while it had a hint of desperation. You could almost see the shadow that ran across her suddenly pale face, over the thought of Pitch not being her friend. Jack watched in amazement and wonder as her breathe quickened and her body started to tremble. "He wouldn't do that…" She whispered with a cracking voice, not realizing that she had let go of the fairy in her hand, which quickly flew over to Jack and gave him a hug on the chin; glad to be safe again. Jack welcomed Baby Tooth, but he kept his eyes on the girl in front of him. "Pitch wouldn't use me. He's not like them. He's not like any of them. He cares for me… He's not one of them. He's not…"

Wait a second… Was she… _crying_? But she never cried. Not even when being beat by her father or the kids at her school; she cried when she was a small child, but from that on she only cried once, and that was when she met Pitch. Else there had been no else trace of any cries in her memories at all. Not even a hint of tears in her eyes.

Slowly, Jack came closer, and suddenly felt really bad about him-self when he saw the hint of tears forming in her eyes. Even though she was an enemy, then she was still a child, even though she was physically the same age as he was. But he was still a Guardian of Children, and he had just made one cry. Great going Jack. "Ehm," he began, but was cut off as a pair of boomerangs shot into view, right between the two spirits.

"Frostbite, you okay up there?" A voice sounded from under them, ripping both of them back to reality; while startling Jack, Sam had pulled herself together, and was now on her way away from them as fast as she could. "What are ya doin'! That Sheila's getting away!" Bunny yelled as he grabbed his boomerangs and began to follow from the ground – he had picked up Jack's scent a few kilometers away, and followed it to the forest. As soon as he had heard Jack and Sam talk, and as soon as he had seen the two in the air above him, he just automatically attacked, when he had the chance.

Jack quickly regained his senses and flew after her, knowing that if they didn't get her now, then she would be impossible to find later on, not to mention she could probably provide more information than Baby Tooth, besides; he was curious just how Pitch had talked her into joining him, and how she had become half nightmare. An experiment maybe?

They chased her out of the forest, over the nearby river and further over a couple of small fields, before she turned around, pointing a fire-red arrow against Jack from an ebony bow of nightmare sand, which she had quickly created. Apparently Pitch had taught her a trick or two with his sand, and even Jack could the craftwork of the bow was impressive in all its simplicity.

Both Jack and Bunny stopped up and stared at her with caution. Bunny yelled to Jack to be careful, as he readied his boomerangs, but Jack was already ready to counterattack with his staff in both hands.

"I gave you back your fairy already, so leave me alone, Icicle-boy, and take little Miss Easter with you." She hinted towards Bunny under them, who grumped at how she addressed him.

She had barely finished her sentence before Jack cracked up laughing at what she had called Bunny. Miss Easter. "More like a pet kangaroo," Jack said through his hysteric laughter.

"Now's _not_ the time, Snow Cone!" Bunny angrily yelled somewhere under him.

"Haha, I'm so sorry Cotton Tail," Jack said and wiped away a tear in his eye, before becoming serious again, no matter how little he wanted to. With a deep breath, he began to talk with a somewhat serious expression, though he was still bubbling with laughter on the inside. "I'm sorry to say, but I'm not going anywhere before you tell me why you –" He was cut off as a burning arrow passed his shoulder only centimeters beside it. Even though he wasn't hit, he could still feel the intense heat it radiated, obviously mirroring the fire in her eyes.

Jack made a cocky grin as he noticed something behind her, and Bunny seemed to have noticed it too. This was perfect. "Aims good, shoots bad?" Jack teased the girl, who lowered her bow to create a new arrow in her free hand, in a mixture of black and red. "You know, I think I know how Pitch managed to get you to his side."

"Oh?" The mixture of black sand and small red sparks took form to an arrow in her hand. He kept eye contact with her under the process, and was happy to see she was interested in hearing his new theory. "How so?"

"He came to you with a bunch of freshly baked cookies, and says something like; '_Come to the dark side, we got cookies'_, and then when you tasted them you had to join him."

Both Bunny and Sam reacted exactly the same way; they face-palmed, which was actually rather amusing.

"You can't be serious," Sam said and raised an eyebrow. Honestly, she was a little impressed of how good he was at doing Pitch's accent, but eventually she sighed, and came back to the topic at hand. "Now listen, leave me alone, because next time I shoot, you won't be so lucky as to be missed by my arrow, and I certainly won't –" Her words died as she made the bow ready to shoot again, but was instead met with… she stared shocked at what had been her bow, but now was a bouquet of golden flowers in her hands. Her eyes were wide with wonder and confusion of just why she was holding flowers instead of a weapon, not seeing the small golden man by her side giving Jack a thumbs-up.

"Knock her out!"

"Huh?" Sam looked flustered at the Guardian, but it was only for a second before a ball of dream sand, hit her in the head and made her fall asleep and tumbled towards the ground where she was caught by Bunny in a not so elegant swoop, but he quickly let go of her again with a loud yelp.

"That's Sheils is bloody hot!" He blew on his paws which had gained a few burns. Oh, how he hated elemental spirits; first frost, and now fire. What was the next? Lightening? If such one appeared, he would officially drop any sort of contact with the outside world, unless around Easter of course. Nothing should hold him away from Easter. But he wouldn't come out of his Warren if a new elemental spirit appeared. There was nothing but trouble with those. _Manny, you better not make more of those_, he silently thought to the moon.

"She's a creature of _fire_, what did you expect?" Jack asked rhetorically as he hung in the air just above Bunny's head, while Sandy started to spread his sand under the sleeping girl so they could transport her.

Bunny rolled his eyes, and watched as Sandy lifted the sand cloud up in the air, where Tooth and North, in his sleigh, came flying on the dark night sky. They were surprised to see what they had managed to do, knowing it couldn't have been easy. It was decided that they brought her back to the Pole though a portal, for safe-keeping and to question her.

As soon as they had come to the Pole, North quickly sat some yetis' to work on something in the basement, and Jack was sent with them to make the room cold when they were done building whatever they were meant to build, to make sure she couldn't use her fire powers. As Jack was heading off with the yetis' Baby Tooth appeared from his hood, where she had fallen asleep for some reason, and hang in the air of Santa's Workshop.

Tooth were busy talking to Sandy about the sleeping spirit on the sand cloud, so she didn't notice her, not before Baby Tooth made a loud, lovely chirp, which made Tooth turn around and a wide smile appeared on her face.

"Baby Tooth!" The Tooth Queen flew to her minion and hugged her tightly into her chest in a warm embrace, while tears of happiness started to fall down her cheeks. "Oh, how I've missed you my dear, you have no idea how I've missed you guys." Baby Tooth answered in a warm chirp as she hugged her Mama back with a happy smile.

A smile formed on both Sandy's and Bunny's lips, when they watched the reuniting of the two. They both knew how worried Tooth had been for her minions, and being reunited with at least one of the missing, was more than she had hoped for would happen that day.

Sandy smiled warmly and sprinkled more of his dream sand on the fire spirit as she was about to wake up, to make sure she stayed asleep. A golden figure slowly formed above her head, and took form of a miniature figure of her talking to two smaller figures; a skinny girl with shoulder long hair, a loving face and a great smile, and a boy with messy hair and a slim body, round cheeks and a wide grin on his face. Her siblings.

Sandy watched as her dream unfolded, they were standing and talking until a new figure of her father (tall, masculine, with a bold spot in his hair, glasses and a serious face) appeared and apparently began to yell in the dream, but before he could do much else, Sam had killed him. She turned to her siblings before they took found their luggage and walked away from the house and burning man behind them, with true smiles on their faces – they were free.

The Guardian of Dreams watched melancholically as tears started to fall from the sleeping girl's closed eyes, and he knew that taking her siblings away from that place was her most inner dream, though he had to admit that she must have become really messed up in her mortal life, by dreaming of setting her own father on fire, no matter how much she hated him.

It was just... sad... And creepy.


	22. Like a Drug

**What do you guys say, if we follow Pitch around a bit? It's lovely to see the evil Boogeyman do some work, no? ;)**

* * *

The darkness was beautiful. At least for Pitch. For humans it meant danger and fear. But not for him; he was spreading his fear far and wide, and was at the moment creating yet another beautiful nightmare for a sleeping child in Singapore, making it whimper in its sleep.

After he had had some fun with Bunny and North, he had started to spread his nightmares again, and had had a lot of joy by doing it. Oh how he loved his job! To see the sad faces, and hear the terrified cries of children as they became haunted by their most inner fears was truly satisfying. Children were so vulnerable and weak, and even if they couldn't see him, they could still provide him with such pleasure when they were terrified, that he sometimes wondered how Sandy never had considered spreading fear instead of dreams. Fear was pleasure and life and power for the Boogeyman.

He grinned as the child started to cry in its sleep, and as soon as it started to scream, his job there was done. The fear from the child made a sweet sensation, and its scream was as sweet music to his ears, as he leapt out the window and continued to the next, just as the child's parents came running in to wake up their child, much to Pitch's displease, but at least the child was still emitting of pure fear, even as it had awoken. Good. Job well done.

Pitch wandered in the shadows of the city and spread his fear wherever he found someone sleeping. A homeless guy was unaware of the evil creature that stopped up in front of him, and watched as he turned in his sleep. Had Pitch only been able to be seen by that very man, he would have tried to scare the livíng out of that man, but no, instead he gave him a nightmare. Just a simple one, nothing out of the ordinary, one he used rather common actually; the one where the victim feels like they're being chased. It was impressive how many mortals were scared for such a simple thing. But then again, quite a lot of the fears humans held was simple; '_I'm afraid of failing in school_, '_I'm afraid of losing my job'_, '_I'm afraid of gaining weight_', '_I'm afraid that no one will ever accept the real me', 'I'm afraid of spiders', 'I'm afraid of ghosts'_…

How pitiful it was to be a human. Their fears were so trivial. It was rare he found a fear that woke his interest.

'_I'm afraid that I'll never be able to fully protect my siblings …_'

See, that had been a very interesting fear, and a powerful fear at that; it was a fear created of love. It had awoken his interest, when he had been on one of his first trips out of his lair after his defeat. He had been casually wandering around in a forest in a small European country, when he had felt the´precense of that fear for the first time. He had had his nightmares with him – he had regained control of them, when he had stopped being afraid himself, though it had taken almost a decade, but it had been a nightmare. Oh the irony. But he was the King of Nightmares after all, meaning it was only natural for him to be able to gain the upper-hand of his creations.

How naïve the Guardians were to think that they could get rid of him that easily. He had been away for quite some time, yes, but he had been in his lair for at least half a century before daring to walk out again – he had become powerless after all, but at least he still had a few of his nightmares left.

He had first taken small trips, to spread a nightmare here and there, nothing major though, since he hadn't that much power left, so he wouldn't dare something big, to make the Guardians realize he was back, no. He had spread his most common nightmares, those who were easily overlooked by the Sandman.

One day, he had chosen to go North from his lair in the abyss in the sea near Venice, and had found himself in a forest near a pathetic small town, full with easy victims. There, he had started to spread some nightmares. Only some common nightmares though. Nothing major. Unfortunately.

There had been quite many children sleeping peacefully in their beds, only waiting for him to give them nightmares. It hadn't seemed like Sandy had been by to spread his _lovely_ dreams, much to his luck.

He had let his nightmares run around freely in town, and he had a gotten a lot of joy out of a sleeping boy, who apparently was terrified of not being able to eat any candy anymore – Pitch had to give some credit to the boy; he was more wide than he was tall. It was disgusting, considering it was rare for people in the European countries to become like that.

Pitch had just made the boy whimper, when one of his nightmares came running to him, telling there was a problem. Of course, the first thing that had flown through his mind was the Guardians, so he had quickly left the room and stayed in the shadows on his way out of town and to the forest, as he saw the Sandman approach town. He continued to flee the scene, until he had smelled it. A specific kind of fear.

It had gained his interest and he followed it through the forest, wondering who could have such a powerful and mesmerizing fear. It was delicious.

He soon heard the hectic sound of a pair of feet against the forest floor, and a young girl with long golden hair, came running past him, too caught up in her own thoughts so she didn't notice him. But who could blame her? It was night after all and humans couldn't see in the dark. But even the Boogeyman wondered what she was doing alone in the forest at this time of the day. Even though he was evil, he could still be concerned for children's safety at night.

Just as she had passed him, a sweet sensation had filled the Nightmare King as he smelled her fear. It was intense and oh so satisfying. It was even so pure, that he could feel his powers slowly returning.

That was when he had realized something.

With a gesture, he sent one of his nightmares out to follow her, to see where she was headed; he couldn't afford to go to town when the Sandman was there. A nightmare would be okay, they had been running around on their own after his defeat, so Sandy was used to deal with one or two from time to time, but if he saw Pitch… Well, that wouldn't be a nice meeting, even though Pitch was weak at this state.

The nightmare had begun to catch up with the girl, but suddenly the girl had stopped and looked around the dark forest around her, listening. She had hesitated, looking troubled, before walking back towards the nightmare that was on its way against her. Pitch had watched from a distance, following in the shadows, as the girl looked around with a curious look on her face, as if she searched for something.

"Hello?" Her voice had been slightly trembling in the chilly air of the forest. She had been nervous, and seemed like she had suddenly regretted her decision of having turned around towards where she had been runing from.

Pitch had watched her, as she stood there all alone in the forest, looking around with a sudden urge to run home. He had almost laughed as some new fears had started to spread in her; '_what if there's child-molesters and killers out here?_'

Such trivial things, and yet they had been satisfying for him. But not as much as the strong fear that emitted from her, making him hunger for more.

The girl had jumped of shock, as one of the nightmares made its presence known by walking up to her, and studied her with cautious eyes. Pitch had been surprised as the girl amazed looked at it, obviously worried whether to find the horse creature intimidating or fascinating.

The nightmare had neighed and slowly neared her, only to make her back away. As the nightmare had watched her curiously, she had reached out to it and touched its muzzle, making her surprised expression gain a wide grin on her lips, and soon a chuckle sounded from her. "You're beautiful," her voice had been filled with fascination, as she had studied the horse in front of her.

Pitch had walked through a bush to get a better view to the girl, and feel the sweet sensation of her fear – though she had forgotten it for the moment, it had still been as visible as the moon on a bright night sky. As the bush had made a noise, the nightmare had looked at its master and dissolved to only appear by his side, leaving the girl alone once again.

With a wide grin on his face, Pitch had watched her as her fears had begun to crawl back to take their grip in her young body, making him feel like he was in a daze; she had been able to see his creations. That could only mean one thing; she believed in him.

He had a believer; a believer with a great amount of intense fear inside.

He _wanted_ her.

He _needed_ her.

The Nightmare King had let his nightmare follow her, from a distance, to where she lived, and as soon as he had gotten to know, he had come there on regular basis, to enjoy the fear of the young girl, who, unknowingly, strengthened the Boogeyman with her fears and hatred.

He had even followed her when she had gone out into the forest to kill herself a few years later, which he couldn't let her do – she was his drug. His power source. So he had interrupted her and made his appearance for her for the first time. It had been a good move from his side; it had showed she didn't fear him at all. He had still wanted her, so he had given her an offer of friendship, knowing she hungered for it, but she had turned him down. It had only made him want to have her more. He was addicted to her mezmerizing fears by now.

He had wanted her no matter what he had to do – she was going to be his one way or another, not caring what it might take, so he hadn't let a single night pass, where he hadn't come to her, to be dazed off in her fears.

And now, thanks to her father killing her, and the Man in the Moon taking pity on her, he had gotten her by his side – his own personal drug.

A smile appeared on Pitch lips as he let yet another child scream in its sleep. He really enjoyed his job, and it was only thanks to Samantha he was finally able to gain his revenge on the Guardians. He had to give that girl some credit; she was crazy when it came to destroy children's childhood, and she worked really hard to satisfy Pitch with her work.

He was proud of her.

A chirp made him look past his shoulder, where some black fairies hung in the air and looked at him with uneasy expressions. "Now, I didn't think I would see you again this soon; I must say that it is an utmost surprise, considering that you should be in hiding." He straightened his back and folded his arms behind it, while he turned to the fairies. "But tell me why you are here and not with your creator."

The fairies looked at each other, their eyes flickering from one another unsure of what to say. Pitch only rose an non-existing eyebrow, expecting them to tell him what was going on. They didn't fear anything at the moment, so he couldn't tell what was going on, which he found rather annoying.

After what seemed like forever, Pitch lost his patience and was about to go back to his work, when they finally pulled themselves together and started to form pictures with their bodies to tell, since he couldn't understand them. It took a while, but Pitch understood. They had taken her. His drug.

An angry snare appeared on his face. "How _dare_ they!" The Nightmare King exclaimed with pure anger in his voice. "They will regret what they have done. I will _not_ tolerate such insult!" And with those words he disappeared into the shadows and left the flustered fairies back in the child's room.


	23. Secrets

**I'm done with my exams! Now I can finally relax and just concentrate on my fanfictions! It's so fantastic!**

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Jack flew casually around the workshop with his hands behind his head. It smelled like cinnamon and chocolate in there, but he was used to it by now, even the warmth, but he had spent four years there after all, so it was only natural. He didn't live there anymore though, not after North had kicked him out. Not that he minded anyway; he was used to live on his own, and spending 300 years alone left its marks in people.

The young winter spirit hummed a melody to him-self as he let the wind carry him around the Pole. All of the Guardians were waiting for their prisoner to wake up, taking shifts to watch her as she slept, and right now, it was Sandy who was on duty.

The yetis had fireproofed a room in the basement, and set up a sprinkler-system in case of fire, plus there were a lot of lamps and lights all over the place, so there were barely any shadows at all. Also, they had somehow managed to create a rather impressive cage in only a matter of hours, which had been strengthened by some of Sandy's dream sand. After it had been placed in the basement, Jack had made piles of snow everywhere in the room to cool it down, yet keep warm enough for the water pipes to stay unfrozen. It was important the room was cold – Jack remembered that she hadn't been able to use her fire-power when he had held her captured in the snow ball, and since North had been told this, he had wanted Jack to help out in the preparations, and he had done as he had been told. It was that simple.

Jack rounded a corner and came to the workshop, where Tooth was flying around looking impressed at all the toys, while she happily chatted with Baby Tooth, with wide grins on both their faces. It was nice to see the two of them together, and Tooth hadn't been able not to smile since she had been reunited with her second in command. She even seemed much brighter, knowing at least one of her fairies were okay.

With a mischievous smile on his lips, as an elf gave Jack the signal, jack formed a snowball in his hand and lazily threw it, so it hit a nearby yeti in the back of its head, causing it to make a sudden outburst in yetish before it turned to look at the guilty, knowing it could be no other than the troublemaking winter spirit. Just as predicted, the yeti started to chase Jack, who laughingly started to fly away from it, making a few more chase him as he passed. If he had to wait for Samantha to wake up, then why not make some fun out of it all? And by fun, he meant disturbing a lot of yetis in their work, and make them chase him through the workshop, and hopefully the elves had successfully created the trap, just as he had told them to. There were no acceptance towards faliur.

He really liked the elves, not only because they were easy to freeze solid, but also because they were just as mischievous as he, which just made them even more awesome in his opinion, and they liked it when he gave them new ideas to do. Like the one time Jack had learned them a few curses. The outcome had been hilarious, - it had spread between the elves with such a speed, that the few elves he had taught it to, before ten minutes had passed, had spread it to all the other elves, and made huge disturbances throughout the Pole for days. The yetis had panicked when they had found the elves cursing, and they hadn't been able to quiet them down, and North had been stunned more than the Yetis, since even he had thought they couldn't speak at all.

Jack hadn't been caught as the one teaching it to them, meaning that the whole operation had been a huge success.

But that was in the past, and now Jack was being chased by a mob of at least twenty mad yetis, who he was trying to get into the trap that was just around the corner, where the elves were waiting to help him out – their King of Mischievousness.

"Come on slowpokes!" Jack called out to the yetis with a grin on his face. "It's unbelievable that you can make that much toy in only a year, when you can't even run fast enough to catch a winter spirit on the run!"

Some of the yetis grunted angrily to him as an answer, while others were yelling something in yetish to him, no doubt something unpleasant.

Jack laughed as he rounded the corner, seeing a few elves run into hiding as he did, signing to him that the trap was in place. "Hello, I'm over here! With that speed you have, we'll all be old and grey when you catch up with me!" Jack eyed a well-known yeti in the mob, which just made him grin even wider. "Yo, Phil, don't tell me you're growing old and fat too? But I guess that's what to be expected with a belly like that!" An angry yell sounded as an answer, making the mischievous spirit laugh even harder as he continued down the hallway towards where the elves were hiding.

"Now!" Jack yelled and pulled a camera out of his hoodie to take pictures of the result, as the yetis was in position, just as a big gray bunny appeared from a tunnel in the floor, right in front of the yetis, and right in the trap area. "Oi, Frostbit, I've been searching fo' ya, mate, you have to –" Bunny trawas cut off, and barely got to notice anything else than the yetis, before a big splashing sound sounded throughout the hallway, and everything seemed to be green for a moment, soon followed by a shower of glitter.

Laughter and jingle sounds filled the hallway as both Jack and the elves saw their trap had succeeded. Jack high-fived his partners-in-crime after having taken a picture of their successful prank, before they all took off to not get caught right away. Especially Jack, since he soon stood face to face with an angry bunny, covered in green paint and colorful glitter. Not that he had expected Bunny to have showed up in the middle of it all, it had just sort of happened, like a bonus in addition to his excellent plan on passing time.

"JACK FROST !?"

"I know you love your job and such, but I didn't expect you to go this far," Jack yelled with a grin as he flew quickly through the Workshop, taking pictures all the way of the furious kangaroo that followed him. The yetis weren't following, since they were all angrily trying to clean up the mess, since they knew that following him when they were covered like that, would only give them more work at hand. "You look like an Easter Egg!"

"Shut up!" Bunny yelled back, as he chased him throughout the workshop, leaving trails of glittery green paint wherever he ran.

Jack grinned as they came to the big doors at the entrance to the Workshop, knowing that he easily could get away now, since there was no way his _pet kangaroo_ would dare to walk out into the snow by his own free will. With a swing with his staff, the wind blew the doors open, and as Jack came to the door opening, he turned around and bowed for the Easter Bunny. "I will have to bit you farewell, little kangaroo." He leaped out the door and into the cold world outside, and left an angry Bunnymund stand and looked furious after him.

"Next time I get my hands in you, you won't be so bloody lucky, you overgrown Icicle!" Bunny yelled but was only met with a distant laughter as a response. With a deep annoyed sigh, Bunny turned and began to walk back through the Workshop, ignoring the stares from the yetis and the mischievous grins on the elves faces. He hated it, and he just wanted to take a bath to quickly get the paint and glitter out of his fur, before the damage became permanent.

What a headache it all was.

Couldn't Jack at least let one day go without making… Bunny shook his head to push the thought aside, not wanting to think about Jack at the moment, as he entered a nearby bathroom, to which he had been directed by one of the yetis. It was big and had the same colors like the rest of the workshop; red and green. There were even Christmas decorations in there despite they were in the middle of February by now.

He turned on the hot water and looked at himself in the mirror, carefully not to touch more than most necessary, knowing that neither the yetis nor North would appreciate if one of their bathrooms were all covered in green paint. As he studied himself, he couldn't find a single grey piece of fur anywhere, thanks to the neon green paint that covered him from head to toe, only to be decorated with glitter in all sort of colors, not to mention the small Christmas figures that must've been in the tons of glitter that had been thrown down on both him and the yetis… Jack had said he had looked like an Easter egg, but it looked more or less like some silly Christmas decoration some 3 year-old had created. What a mess.

As Bunny stood under the shower, and the paint slowly started to rinse out of his fur, a small grin made its way to his lips. He would never tell Jack that he enjoyed his pranks, well, not when it was him-self who was one of the victims, but Bunny had to give it to him, that the way the yetis had looked had been hilarious, and he would even have enjoyed the prank, if he hadn't been a part of it.

That boy sure knew how to create his pranks and pick his victims, and Bunny was happy to see that the boy was back to normal; neither of the Guardians had thought Jack would have taken the loss of Jamie that bad, and seeing him so sad and spiritless, had really made them all worry about him, especially when Bunny had heard Jack mumble about wanting to disappear from the world. He hadn't thought that mischievous spirit had actually been that depressed; sure enough he hadn't talked or made pranks since the passing, but to know how bad it really was with that kid…

The Guardian of Hope let his head rest against the wall and slammed a fist against the red tiles on the wall. Had he only known, he would have told that kid about the price of befriending a mortal, and therefore, maybe, have caused him less pain. But even though Jack was, what, 387, by now, and they had accepted him, and taken him to them as a member of their small family, they still hadn't learned him some of the basal rules in the spirit world – like the one rule that was that no one befriend humans, since it will only end up in sorrow, and since spirits lives forever, being burdened by sorrow is like living in hell, and it took forever for spirits to recover. They simply hadn't given it a thought that Jack would be devastated when he, sometime out in the future, would have to lose his brother and first believer.

Bunny shook his head and, after having rinsed his fur in countless of _shampoos_ and _body wash_, and he now smelled like a somewhat perfume store mixed with a Christmas bakery (much to his displease), he dried himself up and after an annoyed glance in the mirror, he walked out of the bathroom, despite the way his fur looked; all glittering due to the leftover glitter from the prank, but none the less it was glossy and way too soft for his likening. Not to mention that it had started to be all fluffy, making him look like one of those bunnies the humans held as pets.

As Bunny walked down the hallways of the Workshop, he gave his belt to one of the yetis, telling him to clean it up for him – there was no way he would walk around with something that looked that Christmassy. It would only make North think that he appreciated his holyday, which he certainly didn't. He respected it, but that was it.

The Pooka jumped through one of his tunnels and appeared in a snow filled room in the basement of the Pole. It was a rather big room – all over the place were lamps and lights, to not make a single shadow show anywhere and the effect of it was that it almost looked like the snow was shining. A big oversized golden birdcage stood in the middle of the room and caged their prisoner who now was wide awake, sitting on the swing there was hanging in the middle of the cage. Sandy sat in the snow and made a snow dragon, not noticing the Pooka that walked towards him from behind. Bunny had to give it to the small man; he was really good at creating snow sculptures, and it actually looked really realistic.

Sandy heard the snow crunch behind him, and watched as his friend walked up to him. He eyed the glittering, fluffy fur, and made a question mark above his head as to question what had happened.

Bunny rolled his eyes and simply mumbled, 'Frost', which made the small man giggle.

If there was one thing Sandy loved, then it was to see some of Jack's pranks work out, even if it so happened that Bunny was one of the victims, but none the less, it was funny. Jack must've somehow gotten into the warehouse, where North kept all of his materials for the toys, considering how sparkly Bunny was right now.

The little golden man watched as Bunny went over to the cage where the girl sat over cross on the swing, with a distant expression on her face and looked up into the air, and a leg dangling from her position. She had woken up an hour ago, and had panicked when she couldn't create any fire, and it was too cold for her to call forth any nightmare sand without it freezing. She had tried to kick open the cage, but when that hadn't helped she had just sat down on the swing, and doing what she did now.

"Oi, you finally awake," Bunny said and crossed his arms, keeping a distance between him and the cage. "I got a few questions for you." The girl ignored him, watching how the lights flickered above her, making sure there were no shadows anywhere. "I'm talking to ya'". No response.

Sandy shook his head when Bunny asked if she had talked at all; she had said a few things to herself on her native language, which no other that Tooth would understand, but it had just been a few words from time to time, but it hadn't sounded like it had been anything of importance as far as Sandy could tell.

"I'll go get the others," Bunny said before disappearing through one of his tunnels, leaving Sandy and Samantha alone. Sandy didn't mind though, it was not like anything bad could happen, and he could finish his dragon in the meantime – all he needed to do was create the wings and then he was done.

He heard some mumbling words from the girl, but he couldn't understand them at all – there even were some sounds in that language which he never though he had heard before. He finished the wings before turning his gaze to the girl who now was removing some split ends from a lock of her hair. She seemed utterly bored, and when she noticed Sandy's gaze, she sung a few words, still not understandable; "Den store Børge Bussemand***** vil komme, og tage mig tilbage, og så vil det blive værst for jer*~" She hummed a few tones after that, leaving Sandy as a big question mark, both wanting to know what she was singing and wanting to know just what how she could have turned to Pitch's side, despite how loving and protective she had been in her mortal life.

Behind him his four fellow Guardians appeared from one of Bunny's tunnels, almost half an hour later.

Both Jack and Bunny seemed to have come to terms, though a swelling had made its appearance on Jack's forehead. No doubt caused by Bunny, according to the way Jack looked at the Pooka.

As soon as Jack eyes the snow dragon, he quickly flew to Sandy and watched impressed at what he had created, giving it plenty of compliments, making Sandy proud – Jack didn't compliment things unless he really meant it, and since snow was Jack's element, Sandy was happy to know that he had done a good job, not that he doubted his creativity, but knowing people liked what he creates was always a pleasant feeling. Maybe next time he should make a dolphin? He knew Jack absolutely loved dolphins, so why not? Once Jack had come to Sandy to tell him about something he had seen a group of dolphins do; saved some humans, who were out swimming in the sea, from some sharks that had wanted to attack. Jack hadn't been able not to mention it the next few times he had seen Sandy, especially not after Sandy had given him a few dreams about dolphins doing heroic things. Jack had even called them, the dolphins, the Angels of the Sea.

"You ready to answer our questions, yes?" North asked with his thick Russian accent, as he stood beside the cage and looked at the girl. She didn't even react to his question, but just continued to remove split ends from her hair. "Why are you with Pitch?" North asked as one of the first things Jack knew was on his list. Now that they had an opportunity to get some answers, they might as well ask a lot. And the list was long.

She ignored him, turning her attention towards the chains on her wrists, poking them lightly with her finger, though nothing happened.

"Why you destroying children's believe?" North continued, but was once again ignored by her, almost like he didn't exist for her. Jack watched from his place on the crook of his staff, as North out-questioned her, but she just ignored him – she didn't even look at him. They went on for about fifteen minutes before Bunny took over and, rather violently, started to question her; he almost yelling. "Oi, ya gumby, you better answer, when I do the questioning, so tell me what you're doing when you fuck around, sending the world into darkness!"

Tooth cut him off, by his sudden yelling; "Bunny, stop it, she might not be an ally of ours, but it is no reason for you to yell at her - nor kick the cage." Tooth added when he had done so, and she knew that yelling and using violence wouldn't solve anything when questioning people, it would only make them more stubborn to stay quiet. Even though Bunny yelled his question, he didn't notice the slight flinch the fire spirit made, when hearing a male voice yell at her. But Tooth had – she even noticed how she seemed to tense up by the yelling, her eyes had even widened a little. Tooth knew enough body language to notice the slight difference in her behavior, and putting that together with what they had seen in the memories then…

"Sam," Tooth began with a gentle look on her face, she flew to where Sam held her gaze (despite the hatred Tooth felt towards her, knowing she was the one who had taken her fairies). "He doesn't have to get violent if you only answer our questions." Sam looked at her with disgust in her eyes, before noticing the fairy that sat on the Fairy Queen's shoulder, mumbling something towards it. "No, Baby Tooth is _not_ a traitor, she was mine to begin with, you only stole her from me, like you've done with the rest of my fairies," Tooth said with a slightly hard voice, as a response to her mumbling.

Samantha rolled her eyes and said something in her native language that apparently was really offending, considering the look that appeared on Tooth's face.

"What did she say?" Bunny asked, his eyes strictly watching the caged girl.

Tooth hesitated before answering, not wanting to say such words, and was shocked to have witnessed a child using those sorts of words despite she already knew it was part of her everyday vocabulary. "Let's just say she called me a lot of horrible things..." Tooth trailed off as Bunny started to yell toward the girl again. "You better apologize, you dog, because no one insults a Guardian without apologizing!"

The look Samantha sent Bunny was hateful and disgusted; "why do you care what I call her? Is she your _girlfriend_ or something?"

"No she bloody isn't," Bunny said, as the girl stated to sing: "Bunny and Tooth, sitting in a tree, K I S –" She trailed off as Bunny continued. "She's family; _we_ protect our family members and stand up for them, something you of all people should know about." He pointed at her, seeing her stiffen, at his words.

The Guardians watched as she sat up normally on the swing, looking at them with cautious eyes. "You know nothing about me – all you know is that I'm an ally of Pitch, so you can't say something like that, as if you know my whole life story."

"Yeah?" Bunny crossed his arms. "We've seen your memories mate; we _know_ your life story, all the way from your birth to your death."

Shock crossed her face, but was quickly covered with a neutral façade, before any of the Guardians could notice. "Is that so? It seems like _someone_ has invaded the privacy of the memories which I so thought was _only_ for those who they belong to." She looked at Tooth, and unknowingly quoted what Tooth her-self had said before letting her friends see the memories. "How can you be a Guardian of Memories, when you can't even protect the memories of those who seek passage to them?"

Tooth looked shocked at the girl, guilt welling up in her. It wasn't like she had wanted to let her friends see the memories, but she had had to, in order for them to gain some progress and they _had_ gained that after doing so. Just look at how quickly they had captured her – that was a huge step on the way… one way or another. Tooth was about to say something, but was cut off, when North began to talk: "But you were no evil person when you were alive, you were very protective and loving and caring, and even stood up against what your father did. You very brave, but why you with Pitch, I – _we_ not understand. Enlighten us, yes?"

Sam almost laughed of anger against the Guardians, not believing what they were saying. "You expect me to help you guys, even though I didn't believe in you guys when I was alive? You've never even been near my home even once! You, Tooth Fairy, you took my teeth, but never came to pick up any of my siblings' – _I_ had to make them believe in you, by exchanging teeth with coins so their childhood fantasies didn't get crushed. _I_ had to hide chocolate eggs for my siblings for Easter to make my siblings gain some fun out of it all. _I_ had to tell them that Ole Lukøje***** didn't come because there were too much unrest in the house and that was why they never had some good dreams. _I_ had to make them believe in you guys, though you never came to my aid to do anything to help me out with what I did. I even had to warn them of Jack Frost, and what a horrible person he is, to make sure he would never kill them. It was me all the way, and none of you was ever there for me to help me out! And now you expect _me_ to help _you_? What a laugh."

"But Jack never killed anyone," North started, but was cut off by Sam's laugh.

"Oh _really_? That is _not_ what Pitch told me. Have you guys ever heard what happened to _Titanic?"_ Jack stiffened as she mentioned the biggest failure of his immortal life. Neither of the Guardians knew about that, nor anyone else in the spirit world – there were only rumors that couldn't be proven. With an evil grin Samantha continued. "I guess not, well, let me tell you a thing about that; that wasn't an accident. Ladies and Gentlemen, _that_ was your one and only, Jack Frost." The Guardians all looked at Jack who seemed paler than ever, if that even was possible. They didn't know whether to believe the girl or not – it could be a trick to simply make them hate Jack after all. But why was he so pale? The girl continued: "Little Jackie here thought it was fun to make an iceberg in the middle of the ocean, even though there was a ship on the way, so _whose_ fault was it that the largest ship in history sank? Jack Frost. _Whose_ fault was it that more than a thousand people died in one night? Jack Frost. _Who_ has been pointed to be a protector of children, though he one-handed killed hundreds of them at once? Jackson _Fucking_ Frost. So how does it feel Jack? To know your secret is out? To know you now can be fully blamed for the murderer of no less than 1522 people? Doesn't it feel _great_ to know there are no secrets in your family? Isn't that what families are about? Not keeping secrets for each other?!"

"But there were no witnesses!" Jack exclaimed, before he could stop himself. In shock, his hands flew up and covered his mouth, realizing what he just had done. He had just made a confession!

His outburst made the Guardians stare at him with shocked expressions, as if they could barely believe their own ears. They all knew that there were rumors, but they had never really thought that they were actually true, but now, hearing Jacks words, made it all clear. It _was_ him. "That can't be true," Tooth whispered through her hand covered mouth. Her eyes were wide with shock, and her voice was shaking. "Please Jack; don't tell me it was actually you who was responsible for that."

"Oh, but that's where you're wrong," Sam continued, ignoring that Tooth had said anything, and ignoring that Jack was about to open his mouth. If she could get the attention away from her, at least until she found a way out, then it would be perfect. "You see Jack, there was a witness; a certain spirit who feeds on fear and hides in the darkness. You see, that very evening Pitch Black was minding his own business by crossing the ocean, when he saw a certain ship sink, and a certain white haired winter spirit flee the scene. No witnesses you say? How pitiful it must be to know there was someone to witness your crime." Sam looked happily at the fearsome and shocked expressions of the Guardians, and the desperate expression that had appeared on Jack's face. "Congratulations my dear Guardians; you're friends with a murderer."

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_"Den store Børge Bussemand***** vil komme, og tage mig tilbage, og så vil det blive værst for jer~"_ – "The big Boogeyman* will come and take me back, and then it will be worst for you~"

_Børge Bussemand* - _The Danish term for_ the Boogeyman._

_Ole Lukøje_* - The Danish term for _the Sandman_.

**Please review! It's like oxygen for us writers - we basically live of that shit! Plus it helps me to keep on going, knowing what you guys think about the story so far. **


	24. Through Fire and Ice

**This chapter was honestly a pain in the neck to make. Not because I hated to write it, it's more that I simply didn't feel like I could get it right at all, whether it was the characters personalities or the conversation, then I simply don't think it came out right.**

**I honestly even think they got over the whole "**_**Jack the Killer**_**" thing a bit too easy, but I didn't know how else to write it. Making discussions aren't really my strength when it comes to writing, despite the fact that I should be a natural in that area - yea, I've been in quite alot of those..  
╰( ´◔ ω ◔ `)╯**

**Okay, if you notice some errors in the text, please notify me either by review or PM or whatever, and tell me where they are, and I'll fix them as soon as I can – can't have errors in the story now can we? But the main reason I'm asking is because I've stared myself blind by rereading this a bit too many times, so I honestly can't tell where I've made mistakes anymore, and I don't have a Beta, so… Yea..**

**But I hope you'll enjoy this chapter!**

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The air was tense around the Guardians. They had never expected things to turn out like this when they had come down to the basement. Who would have guessed that Samantha could manipulate the conversation like that, to push the attention away from her and push it to Jack? But the Guardians weren't thinking of her right now. Their attention was all on Jack, who sat on the crook of his staff as a statue, with his hands covering his mouth and eyes wide. He feared what the Guardians, his family, would say now that they knew.

The Guardians stared at their youngest member of their group with mixed feelings. Neither of them could believe their own ears.

"You're lying," North started, his eyes flickering between Sam and Jack. He couldn't believe what he had just heard, but hearing Jack's exclamation made it clear for them. They knew it was him, but that didn't mean that they wanted to believe it. "Jack is not.. He couldn't have…"

A well satisfied smile crossed Samantha's lips as she watched the Russian talk in denial – this was going just perfect.

North's eyes went towards Sandy who too seemed just as shocked as the others. How could such nice and bright spirit be responsible for the killing of so many people? Sure enough his winters brought cold and frost, killed the crops everywhere, froze water pipes and could leave houses without electricity for weeks, but that was only natural; that had happened even before Jack had come around, well most of it anyway, and his winters were mild compared to the ones Mother Nature had been responsible for before his time.

Jack watched as the Guardians stood in silence and silently exchanged eye-contact. He feared what was coming. Why didn't they say something? Did they hate him now that they knew what he had done? Would they kick him out? Would they still care for him? What if they never wanted to see him again? They would still accept him, right?

Who was he trying to convince, of course they couldn't just accept him now when they knew. Of course they would hate him; he had killed so many people, so it would only be natural. They probably didn't want to have anything to do with him anymore. His family would turn their backs on him, just like he had always feared they would, but he had never thought that it would come this soon, unless they never really were his family to begin with? But he knew they would throw him out, there was no reason why they wouldn't. Maybe it was for the best? He did nothing but cause trouble anyways, so now they would throw him out so they could get back to their non-trouble filled everyday life, they had always had before he appeared. That was for the best, right, if they all went their separate ways? He would be alone again; he had done that before so it shouldn't be that difficult, right?

Considering that he had been together with the Guardians for almost 71 years then he just had to readjust to being by him-self now, when he finally had gotten used to be around people and used to the thought of having friends. But they had only become his friends because they had had to. Hadn't he become a Guardian, and then they would never have even looked his way, if it weren't for scolding him for freezing stuff and create _bad weather_ when they were working. If it wasn't for MiM, then he would still have been alone…

The young winter spirit nervously awaited his fellow Guardians reaction. He could see it in their eyes. There was no way they would let him stay. He had been right all along.

Jack swallowed and pulled up his hood, before jumping down from his staff, landing in the snow and made it crunch under his feet, making sure to avoid the gazes from the Guardians. He picked up his staff, fighting the tears threatening to form in his eyes. He knew he had to get away, not only because he knew they couldn't accept him anymore, but also because he couldn't let them see the tears that threatened to make their appearance. They weren't just because of the Guardians not wanting him no more and he now had to be alone again, but also from the memory that now stood so horribly clear in his mind; the dark Atlantic sea, where he had been creating an iceberg, the ship that had appeared out of nowhere and suddenly crashed into his creation. How afraid he had been when he had heard the desperate screams... seen the floating bodies…

He had finally thought he had forgotten that horrible thing he had done, but that fire spirit just had to rub salt in the wound and make it all come back to him, as if it had all happened yesterday.

"Jack, where're you going?"

Tooth's voice reached Jack as he was about to open the basement door. Neither of the Guardians had realized he was on his way, if it hadn't been for Baby Tooth notifying Tooth about Jack leaving. They had all been too shocked and too caught up in their own thoughts to notice.

Jack hesitated with his hand on the door handle. He couldn't let them see his expression, but he couldn't turn around with a smile either – that would just make them think he was happy for what he had done. He opened his mouth, about to say something, but shut it again. He didn't want to be near them right now. Just having heard Tooth's voice had been enough for him to almost start sobbing, so he simply opened the door, mumbling something about having to use the toilet. He just wanted to go away, knowing that it was better if he made his exit than being kicked out by them. It would make it easier if he was the one who left, meaning it had been his own decision and again his own fault. At least he would feel better by doing it that way...

He was about to step outside when someone grabbed him and pulled him back, closing the door shut. "Jackson Overland Frost, you do not, I repeat; do NOT leave before we have talked this out."

Jack was shocked to hear his full human name be used by North. Not only because he almost had forgotten about it himself, but also because he knew things were going to stir up and they would, eventually, kick him out.

When North let go of Jack, and blocked the door, Jack straightened his hoodie and declined to look at his family, knowing what would come.

"So," North started, crossing his arms and tilting his head. "Will you care to explain what –"

Bunny cut him off. "What is there to explain? This billylid _killed_ people! Everything we have heard just proves that the furphy's were real. I told ya' it was no good oil to take him in as a Guardian, he's up the spot!"

"Enough!" North exclaimed, making Bunny look shocked at him. Even Jack glanced at him from under his hood, though he quickly looked away, fearing making eye-contact with either of them. But despite North's exclamation, Bunny kept on going, even if his words might hurt his young ice-cold friend, then there was no way he would just stay quiet after having heard such truth. He had to say it. "Nick off! That kid sank the biggest ship in history, mate. He creamed more than a thousand people in one night. No other spirits has done such a massacre. No wonder he was on his own before he joined us, he might as well have kept staying lonely after having caused such a tragedy."

"You don't know what happened," Jack said with a shaking voice, but he didn't care about that, neither that his body was trembling.

"Don't I? You made an iceberg and thereby created the biggest tragedy in world history because you're irresponsible, what else is there to kno'? What were ya' doing on the ocean anyway? There's no reason for someone who isn't a water-based spirit or nymph or whatever to be on the ocean, unless it was to cause harm."

"You want to know why I was out on the ocean that night, fine! But let me ask you first; do you have any idea what it is like to have been alone for three hundred years, and not be accepted by other spirits because they hate you for what you are and what you do; to wander around the Earth having no memories of who you are or why you were created, not to mention why nobody sees you?" Jack couldn't take it anymore. He would at least try to stand up for himself, though it probably didn't help anyway; he was going to be kicked out and he knew it. He had accepted the fact already, despite being alone was one thing he feared the most; knowing that he didn't have any friends no more and had to go back to how it was when he had just been created. But no matter what, he wouldn't let Bunny talk trash about him when he stood right beside him.  
He didn't notice because he was feeling so angry and sad, but the wind had started to stir and made the snow drift on the ground and even made the temperature drop a few degrees, slowly showing the feelings he held inside. He had started to become better at not mixing his emotions with his powers, but they could still get out of control. "It's lonely. It's even worse than being just lonely. It's like the need for being acknowledged and seen and noticed is driving you insane; it doesn't even matter who you gain the attention from or how you get it. You just want it one way or another. You'll do anything to get it. Like creating blizzards to mess up other spirit's holidays, just to make them notice you!"

Bunny looked at Jack with narrowed eyes and an unreadable expression. He didn't say anything, not that he didn't want to, but because that both Tooth and Sand gave him a look that said he should let Jack finish before saying something. But in all honesty, he couldn't tell how he felt, now that he knew Jack had made the blizzard of '68 just to be noticed. Maybe he felt guilty for having yelled of the boy, and said that it would've been for the best if he just disappeared from the face of Earth, since nobody would miss a spirit who only messed with other spirits and get on their nerves.

"I just wanted to gain some attention; I even made that stupid groundhog's prediction seem like water, by making winter when it was supposed to be spring," Jack continued, ignoring the wind speeding up around them. He didn't tell what had happened after he had done so against that stupid groundhog; getting into a fight with him and some other spirits who had teamed up against him… "I froze other spirit's homes solid. I tried to break into this Workshop countless times over the years to get some attention, and I did, just ask some of the yetis of what I've tried to do to get into this place! Heck, I even made a blizzard here at the Pole at some random Christmas Eve, to try to get North to notice my presence. But who was being ignored completely, despite his best efforts? Me!"

North felt his heart sink as the young buy shouted. After Jack had become a Guardian, North had gotten some of the yetis to tell about how Jack had tried to break into the Pole, wanting to know just how creative that boy had been. That boy had apparently tried by making many wild and random blizzards to try to freeze the yetis, creating mobs of snowmen, try to freeze the Workshop solid, break a wall, and other countless things that just had been too weird to explain. Phil had even told him that that Frost kid had seemed to hunger more for the attention than the actual breaking in after a while, but one day he had just stopped coming and they hadn't seen even the slightest glimpse of him seen, not before he had been chosen as a Guardian. Of course North hadn't noticed any of those things when they had happened, since he had been too busy creating toys to notice anything that went on in the outside world, not even though someone had been trying to break in.

"No one ever noticed me; no one was there to help me! Why was I on the ocean that very day you ask?" Jack continued as he tried to fight back the tears with all his might. "I didn't want to be around anyone, since all I got out of it was hatred and spirits wanting to beat me up for doing what I do, so I thought I might as well just disappear from the word, take somewhere where no one would look for me, since no one would miss me anyway; I chose the Atlantic because it was far from everything and everyone! I was frustrated and scared and had my head full of things I shouldn't have. I created an iceberg yes, but I didn't think it would be that big of a deal – what was the chances for humans passing by out in the middle of nowhere anyway?!" He shook his head in pure frustration as tears started to roll down his cheeks, only to turn into small drops of ice.

The wind around them had gotten stronger, though it seemed under control for now, but the temperature had dropped several degrees, making the water pipes start to freeze, and the air was filled with fresh snowflakes.

Sandy, who floated above the snow near Bunny and had his eyes locked on the young Guardian, while small figures hang above his head; a sun with the Guardians under it, while there was a small raincloud above the miniature Jack who stood a bit away from the others.

He knew that Jack had been all alone, and that he had lingered for attention and being noticed, so Sandy had sometime in the past almost followed Jack after what happened with Titanic, by coming to the towns or cities where he knew he could find Jack. He had let the boy play around with some of the dreams he had to deliver. At first Jack had been cautious about another spirit acknowledging his presence, but after a while he had gotten used to the thought and had actually started to have fun when Sandy was around, now knowing at least one Spirit had accepted him whenever he was around. The two of them had soon become friends; Sandy would spread his dreams and Jack would play around with whatever was formed in the dream sand until Sandy had to move on to the next city. They had done so for decades before Jack had been chosen as a Guardian, and when he had, Sandy hadn't been able not to be happy to know that Jack now no longer had to be alone anymore.

It had indeed seemed like it had helped for Jack after, to know he now was accepted and had a family, though he had had to readjust to the whole family-thing and get used to the thought that he had someone to rely on.

Sandy listened to what Jack had to say, knowing it was healthy for him to get it out of his system. Not that Sandy wasn't shocked to hear everything the boy had to say, he just wanted him to talk about it.

"I didn't know that ship would crash into my iceberg! I tried to fix it, because I knew there was no way anyone would leave me alone if I didn't try to at least do something to make things right, but do you have any idea what it is like to see people die right in front of you? Do you have any idea what it is like to try to save lives when you can't even touch people?! I couldn't help anyone, and I couldn't even do something to help them out! I have never been so terrified in my entire life! Have you ever heard the screams of people who _know_ they're going to die? Have you ever watched people as they died? I tried to help out, I really did, but I couldn't stay and watch people die I had to get away. I was scared to death of what was happening! I have been haunted for what I have done for years; every time I closed my eyes I saw the people dying and I heard them scream in my dreams. Rumors of what I had done even started to spread, and how do you think that made me feel, when all I wanted was to forget? How do you think that I felt when I had no one to rely on to help me through such a thing? I had to do that by myself." Jack finally looked at the Guardians with sad judging eyes, while tears fell non-stop. "You only noticed me and acknowledged my existence because of MiM! You were supposed to be the Guardians of Children, but you overlooked the only immortal child on the planet, and left him all to himself!"

Silence filled the basement as Jack stopped yelling. They didn't know he felt that way. They would never have guessed that… This was… They couldn't describe it. All what Jack had said was just… so emotional and so devastating to listen to; hearing how he had felt while he had been left alone, how he had hungered for being noticed, and how he had fought to be so, was just sad. Seeing his tears had made their hearts break.

It was true they were Guardians of Children, but it had never occurred to them that they had overlooked the only immortal child in existence, but they now knew they had failed what they were supposed to do; they had been too focused on the mortal children that they had taken Jack for granted and only seen him as some trouble making spirit, not considering how he might feel. They knew he had been on his own before he became a Guardian, but they hadn't realized he had actually _been_ alone. They had just figured he might've had some friends somewhere who he could talk to, so they hadn't really thought about him at all.

Hearing all this and seeing Jack cry, was like watching seeing all happiness in the world disappear.

Tooth had teary eyes when she looked at her friends, expecting them to say something., anything. But they didn't. They just stood like that doing nothing else and shivered in the cold. Tooth took a quick breathe as Baby Tooth touched her cheek – she had honestly forgotten that she was still there. Her minion looked at Tooth with big pleading eyes, silently telling her to do something; she didn't like seeing Jack this upset, and the temperature only kept on going South and that didn't exactly help them out.

She stared at Bunny, who was staring at Jack. His arms were still crossed, but his ears were laying down back his head, and his nose twitched. His expression was unreadable, though it was obvious that Jack's words had made an impression on the stubborn Aussie. She was worried what he, of all her friends, would say to the things Jack was shouting towards them.

"So there you have it," Jack said when he had gotten some sort of control of his emotions. Now was when it all would go down. Now was when he would have to leave them. "Listen guys, I know what you're going to do, so I'll just – I'll just make it quick and take my leave by myself; I know you hate me now that you know and that… That you don't want me around, and won't see me again and will kick me out of the family but… I'll –"

Jack was interrupted as his vision suddenly was filled with feathers. He gasped as he felt Tooth's slim arms hug him tightly into her body, not expecting her to do such a thing. What was she doing? She hated him. They all did. They knew the truth, so why did she…?

"You're so stupid…" The young Guardian tensed as he heard her angry voice mumble through suppressed sobs, while she buried her head into his shoulder, and her tiny hands grabbed his hoodie as if he would slip away if she didn't, while Baby Tooth hugged his neck. "There's no way we will leave you all by yourself. You should know that by now. We won't kick you out just because of something you did in the past, you stupid, _stupid_ child. We love you, get it into your head already…"

Jack stood as a statue as he heard her talk. His breath quickened, and a knot formed in his throat making him unable to say anything. What should he do? He hadn't expected... He hadn't thought that… What was…? Why…?

He looked at Sandy, who flew to his side, now with all five miniature Guardians under the sun, hand in hand with Jack in the middle. The small man petted Jack's hair and smiled one of his bright and warm smiles, telling Jack it was okay.

A big hand soon landed on Jack's shoulder, making him look at North, who held a gentle smile on his lips. "You are not alone anymore, you are not going to be left alone, just because of things in past. It was accident, it happens, even I made some stupid things that is not to be proud of, but that doesn't mean we will not be able to forgive you for what you did. We love you no matter what you did. All happens for reason." North's words and the embrace and support from his friends were enough for Jack to feel like he was going to burst. Why did he want to cry right in front of them all? But more importantly, how could they accept him despite what he had done? Didn't they hate him? Didn't they want to get rid of him? "You _are_ family Jack. We are your family." As those words were being said Jack couldn't stand it anymore; sobs escaped his mouth and his body was trembling and big tears fell from his eyes, as he gave up on trying to keep his cool and let himself cry in the arms of his family – Bunny awkwardly stood and mumbled something that sounded like apologies, despite his stubborn pride, which was really out of character, but he was quickly cut off, as North pulled them into a big group hug, Bunny being the one crushed the most next to Jack.

But Jack was both happy and angry. Angry at him-self for having jumped to conclusions yet happy to know that his family would accept him no matter how messed up his past was or what stupid things he had done. Of course they could get angry at each other and hate each other's guts for a while, but this had just proved that they were family, and would continue being so, even if they had to go through fire and ice.


	25. In the Dark

**Seriously I have no idea why the chapters has started to get this long, nor why I've started to feel like they've started to become such a pain to write. It's really annoying. I love the story and all, I'm just suspecting there to be an upcoming writer's blockage, which sucks, but let's hope that won't happen – I already have one with another fanfiction I'm writing, and it's really frustrating to try to write on it, but not being able to do so. But none the less then here's the latest chapter. I've rewritten it twice already, and now I've just decided I won't do that again and give it to you as it is, and hope for it to be good enough, though in my opinion it turned out a bit boring, but that might be because I'm the only one who've had to read and edit and read and edit etc. etc. the last couple of days? But yes, I know, the ending in this one isn't exactly my best work so far.**

**Why, brain? Why? **щ(ಥДಥщ)

* * *

The Guardians stood and hugged each other as the wind quieted down around them, and the temperature started to rise again. They were so caught up in their own little world, that they had completely forgotten why they had come down to the basement in the first place – to question their prisoner. But to them it didn't matter right now. They were having a moment of bonding. "You're feeling better Jack?" Tooth finally asked, as her friend had started to settle down after who knows how long. She had been devastated to see him like this, but at least it seemed like it had helped him.

Jack nodded and dried his cheek, letting his sleeve get covered in frozen tears. He felt so lighthearted now, that everything was over, that he felt like he could take on the world with no trouble. It felt nice and refreshing to have gotten such a heavy secret out and know that he was still being accepted despite what he had done in his past. "Yeah I'm good," he said with a smile on his lips, showing his teeth, and, unknowingly, melted Tooth's heart by doing so. Actually, he hadn't felt so good in a long time, at least not this kind of good.

Tooth loosened her grip around him and flew a bit back from him, holding his hands in hers (North had let go of them the moment Bunny had started to suffocate thanks to North's tight grip around them). "That's great, Jack; but just always remember that we are here for you, no matter what, okay?" She tilted her head and sent a cheering smile to him, while Sandy nodded in agreement, creating a picture above his head of being hugged by the other Guardians.

The young Guardian couldn't help but smile to them due to the support they showed him. They were such great friends towards him, and no matter how you looked at it then they were his family.

North clapped his hands together, making Jack jump of surprise because of the loud noise it made. "Ideal'nyy!" He said with a wide smile on his face. "This is what I call bonding!" He seemed oddly cheerful all of the sudden now when the yelling and comforting part was over, not that he hadn't tried to comfort Jack at all it was the exact opposite actually (he had almost been trying even more than Tooth while they had been in the group hug, which was somehow a bit awkward). In all honesty, the reason why North was so cheerful at the moment was because he felt bad about himself; he didn't want to let Jack think he ever was going to be alone like that again, and he felt bad for not having been there for the young boy, who was like a son for him, when he had needed someone the most. It made him feel guilty, but there was nothing they could do, and as he said himself; "it doesn't matter, it is in the past", and all they could do now was to move forward. However, North couldn't help but know that he somehow had failed the boy by having left him alone that long, also that he hadn't tried to talk to Jack about his 300 years of being on his own during the seventy years they had been friends. Maybe this was something he should start doing when he had some spare-time from work and all this was over? It would be good for the kid after all, so why not?

Jack grinned and shook his head. "Seriously, what wouldn't Jamie have said if he had seen me like this…?"

The winter spirit's comment made his friends look at him with worried eyes; even Bunnymund. Neither of the Guardians said anything for a while, they each studied Jack's expression, trying to read it, though it showed impossible for them. They had all been careful not to mention his lost friend the last couple of years, not that it hadn't slipped a few times but they had tried none the less, but never had they hadn't expected him to bring up Jamie by himself. Was he really okay with it himself for having done so? With hesitation Tooth was the one to break the silence; "He would have said it would've been good for you to talk about these kinds of things, so they don't burden you any longer." Her soft words were more of a question than a statement, but it seemed it was what Jack needed to hear – his expression softened and his grin became a small warm smile.

"Yeah, I think you're right; that Kiddo would've said something like that."

Tooth's lover lip started to wobble and she had to look away, knowing that now wasn't the time for her to start felling tears. Sandy patted her arm to comfort her, silently telling her that if Jack was willing to talk about Jamie by himself, then it meant he truly had moved on, and they could be nothing but happy for him to have done so.

Meanwhile, Samantha was still in the cage, staring at the Guardians with her hands holding the bars in front of her. Her whole expression showed nothing but shock and disbelieve; she had no idea what was going on. Why were they so happy? Shouldn't they have started to fight when they had started to yell at each other? How could they forgive Jack that easily after everything he had done?

She watched as they comforted their youngest member who finally had pulled himself together. The whole scene was weird and abnormal, not to mention that the strange feelings that emitted from the group, made her feel odd. It was just so alien to her, to see that yelling didn't end up in fighting. Wasn't that what always happened once people started to yell at each other? That people started to fight one another once they started to yell? Why hadn't it happened here? Had she done something wrong when she had told them about what Jack had done? Could it have been that she hadn't told enough details of the accident nor teased them enough about it?

Pitch had mentioned they had a connection; that they saw themselves as a family, but she had never seen families act like this, not that she really knew how other families acted, despite what she had seen on TV, but shouldn't they at least have kicked Jack out after being told about his past? At the very least given him a slap on the cheek? She didn't understand. This was too strange and unfamiliar and it scared her. It was as if all she knew was being ripped away from her just like that, by watching them apologize and forgive and comfort like there was no tomorrow. This wasn't family, this was madness! Families were filled with fights and discussions, and people wanting to prove them-selves. Families weren't supposed to be acting like this, but were supposed to hate each other and get into fights over the slightest details. What was going on?

Bunny noticed Samantha's stare and the sudden eye-contact made her flinch before she looked away, turning her back towards them and went to the opposite side of the cage. She didn't know what was going on, but she most certainly didn't want to, for some odd reason, interrupt their moment, even though she wasn't their ally or anything like that, then she just couldn't make herself do it.

They were out of their minds, all five of them.

She rested her head against the bars and heard how they kept talking to each other with happy voices and sweet comforting words. She closed her eyes, feeling her heart start to hurt as she listened to them being all happy and loving. No matter how little she had to admit it, she could both see and hear the strong bond between them; they were one happy family which loved each other no matter what happened or what they were being told about one another's past. But it was just such an odd thought for her to comprehend.

A sigh escaped her lips just before a knot formed in her throat. What was wrong with her? Normally she didn't feel like this, so why…? Sam shook her head and pulled down her goggles, making her hair fall down so it covered her face, as the world became a mix of colors as she looked through the tainted glass. All the temperatures were visible for her now as she looked through them, but she was too caught up in her thoughts to really look at them.

When she had told them about what Jack had done, she had mostly done it to find a way out of the trouble she was in, but also to cause some dispute between them so they'd be fighting each other and hopefully have made some of them leave in anger. She had been so happy when they had started to yell, and accuse Jack for what he had done that she had almost forgot what she had planned to do, but only for a moment though, and then, when Jack had been going to the door, she had felt her plan had been a success, right until the Russian had blocked his way and made him stay, much to her displease. But… when Jack had started to yell and cry, even she couldn't help but listen to what Jack had on his heart; just seeing him that devastated and hurt, thinking that they would kick him out and make him alone once again, had even made an impact on her, though she had tried to shake it off. It had just shown that it wasn't that easy, since she too knew how it felt to be alone and not have anyone to rely on. It was a terrible feeling. Sure she had had her siblings, but they had been all she ever had.

She hadn't had anyone when she had died, but then Pitch showed up a week later, when she was scared the most and she hadn't been alone since then (having found out that no one could hear or see her had been truly terrifying and it had scared her to death).

Jack hadn't had anyone for 300 years.

She shook her head, not wanting to feel pity toward the Guardian of Fun – he was a bad person who had helped destroy Pitch, right…? Where was Pitch anyway? Did he even know where she was? Had he even noticed she was gone, or did he just think that she was running around doing her job? Did he know she was in trouble? If so, would he come and help her out?

Bunny watched as their prisoner stood with her back against them, somehow seeming to be really depressed, but he didn't care for her. That Sheila wasn't someone who deserved his attention, unless it came to out-question her, which he could tell wouldn't happen before they had assured themselves that Jack was alright. Bunny felt a bit bad about himself for having yelled at Jack and saying that he would've been better off being all alone. He hadn't meant it, he had just been so extremely shocked and mad at the same time for discovering such a tragedy in his friend's past, that he hadn't been able to control him-self, despite that he knew the words would hurt. And it was that entire girl's fault.

The Guardian of Hope spun around as he heard Samantha mumble to herself. The others hadn't heard it, they were too caught up in comforting Jack and it had only been a mumble, meaning they wouldn't have been able to hear it, but he had. "Ya head serang ain't gonna show up and save ya when we're around." Bunny stood in front of the cage, just out of reach in case she reached out for him. He watched as she lowered her head before turning around, leaning up against the cage with her arms crossed. Her goggles were covering half of her face, and her hair seemed almost alive around her now when it no longer was kept at bay by them.

"So you heard that, huh," she said after having coughed a single time to get a knot out of her throat. "But I can assure you that Pitch will come and get me if I don't make my exit sooner or later, and he won't be happy."

Bunny narrowed his eyes. There was something wrong with that Sheila; something in her voice that make it shake and despite her cool attitude, then she almost seemed on the edge to tears. It wasn't anything he had seen in her before, not that he had seen her that much, but she didn't seem like the sort of person that would be sad at all. Might be the realization of being locked up, Bunny thought. "Pitch won't come. Why would he? You're nothing more than another piece in the puzzle. He might already have moved on to the next step of his plan without ya."

He heard her sigh, before she turned her head away. "He will come." She said it with such security that it was almost the perfect act, hadn't it been for the shaking in her voice.

"You're fooling ya self, no matter what ya think ya mean to him, then it's something you've been deluded into thinking, whether by Pitch or ya self."

She was quiet for a long while after he said that – long enough for Bunny to think that she wouldn't answer him at all. He was about to go when she finally spoke. "You're wrong. Pitch wouldn't leave me here. He needs me."

"To what, destroy kid's believes?" Bunny asked with annoyance in his voice. It was obvious that she had made herself get her cool back up, and that she had her thoughts elsewhere. She seemed really distant, and it pissed him off. "Can't ya see what ya are doin' is wrong? You're helping the bad guy! You should instead help us defeat him so we can all get some peace again!" He waited for her response, but she didn't answer this time. He watched her as she starred at something outside the cage. What was the matter with that Sheila? Couldn't she see what she was doing was wrong? She should be able to see it, but could it be because of her being part nightmare that she was so stubborn when it came to Pitch? "So what, is it because you're a nightmare too that ya ain't gonna help us out? How does that work anyway? Did he experiment on ya or something like that to make ya join him?"

The fire spirit turned her head and looked at him, tilting her head, but remained silent as she watched him. Would it hurt to tell them about that? In all honesty she didn't know. It was plausible. "Why?" She asked, truly curious for the reason behind his question.

"I tryin' to figure ya out, mate."

She hesitated for a short moment truly considering whether she should tell or not. What would Pitch say if she did? He had never really mentioned anything about that she shouldn't tell anyone about it, but would he be okay with it? He was very strict with basically everything, but he was always treating her with respect, making sure not to scare her away, but maybe telling would be one of the things he would freak out about? He had kept her close ever since she had turned and made sure that she hadn't stumbled upon any of the other spirits for some reason, and he had managed to do so right until she came across some of Tooth's fairies.

Her gaze wandered to the four other Guardians, where Jack had started to joke a bit around again, completely ignoring the Pooka starring at her. Seeing their happy and warm smiles made her heart sting again for some unknown reason. What was wrong with her?

"I chose this."

"What?"

She hesitated before she spoke up again. "You think that I'm some experiment of Pitch's but that is not the case. I _chose_ to become like this. It hurt like hell to turn, but I chose it, so I accepted the pain and became what I am today; half fire spirit, half fearling."

What she said came as a huge shock, and Bunny stared at her with eyes wide of surprise. She _chose_ to become like that? Who in the world would choose to become like that? No one, unless they had lost their mind! Was she kidding him? She had to, there was no way she would have chosen to taint herself with his sand, there was no way _anyone_ would do that. "You're kiddin' me."

With a small, humorless laugh, she shook her head. "No I'm not; I chose this when he promised me that I could get my revenge on the people from my past. So I agreed to it. Also, why should other children have a good childhood when I didn't?" She asked with a casual tone, truly meaning what she said. "It isn't fair, right?" A light bulb near the door began to flicker, making her glance at it through her goggles. It flickered a bit longer before it burst, not gaining the attention of the Guardians. Another began to flicker right away and burst just like the previous one, starting to darken the area around the door.

"You're goin' to destroy the children just 'cause of ya Old Man were a bastard to you and ya siblings?" Bunny asked, and when she nodded he almost gaped of disbelieve. How could someone even be that selfish? Just because she had an idiot as a father, didn't mean that she could just go around do exactly whatever she wanted to gain some sort of revenge or whatever for her own ruined childhood. That almost made her just as bad as her Old Man had been. "Ya are being like ya Old Man," Bunny warned her, pointing at her to make her understand what she did was wrong. "Ya are going to be just like him if ya're continuing like this, mate."

She didn't focus on the Pooka, but instead watched as the darkened area began to get darker and darker as even more light bulbs burst. Wait, was that –? Sam couldn't help but smile as she saw something dark softly fall from a newly burst lamp. "You know, if I agreed with you, we would both be wrong."

"Ya ain't shit better than him by doing this!" Bunny's exclamation gained the attention of his friends, who now all looked at the two of them with interest. They hadn't even realized that Bunny had been talking to Sam this whole time, and considering the look on Bunny's face something was going on between them.

"Just what color is the sky in your world?" She asked and raised an eyebrow as a sneer appeared on her lips; there was no way that that kangaroo should compare her to that monster. "Of course I'm better than him. I'm not even touching the children. All I do is crush their hopes and dreams with some of Pitch's sand, but I never lay a hand on them. I'm not going around hitting children for something they did or punishing them for some silly detail or treating them as soldiers! I'm only letting their world be tainted by fear and lead the darkness into their hearts."

"Ya being like ya Old Man," Bunny warned her again as she turned her back to him once again, not wanting to look at him.

"Well at least I wouldn't kill my own child!" As she yelled the words, loads of light bulbs all around the room burst, and left the basement darkened as shadows appeared everywhere.

The guardians surprised looked around at the basement, at first not understanding why it had happened, not before Bunny saw the look on Sam's face. "What did you do?" He questioned, but she just stared at him through her goggles, as even more light disappeared and darkness filled the basement. And then it all happened so fast.

A shocked scream sounded behind Jack, making him spin around just as black vines shut out of the darkness and spun around Tooth's body, trapping her so she couldn't move. "Tooth!" Jack exclaimed before he quickly froze the vines and made them shatter so she could get free, but as soon as he had gotten her free, new vines shot out from the opposite direction and spun settled around his staff. Though he tried to get it free, the vines quickly pulled the staff out of his hands and bound themselves around his wrists and ankles, pulling him down to a sitting position, while his staff was being held out of reach. Tooth tried to help Jack free and loosen the vine that had appeared around his neck.

Sandy whipped the vines as fast as he could; each time he hit a vine it turned into a dream, and jumped around the room, only to be slaughtered by the darkness. Bunny had already gotten himself trapped, and now hung heads down struggling to get free near the cage. North was swinging his twin blades around, trying to get near his friends to help them out, but he made no progress.

Neither of them saw the dark figure that silently passed them in the darkness, on its way to the cage where an expecting girl stood and started at what happened in the dark. Pitch looked at the struggling guardians as he passed them; Tooth had been caught and tried to get free, while North's arms each had been bound and left him unable to move them. The only one that still was free was Sandy, who still was fighting against the black vines that kept shooting out of the darkness around them. As he passed Bunny, he let black sand cover his mouth so he wouldn't interrupt, and let the vines carry him over to the others. "I see you've gotten into quite the trouble." He turned his gaze to the girl in front of him as she removed the goggles back up on her forehead. "I had thought better of you."

A joking grin appeared on her face when she heard the dry humor in his voice - she had already locked her anger and sadness away in her heart, not wanting Pitch to notice. "And I thought you would have come to my aid sooner, but it seems like we're both a bit disappointed, huh." She tilted her head, gaining eye-contact with the Nightmare King.

Pitch watched her for a moment, waiting for the yells from the guardians to quiet down so he could continue speaking. "You seem oddly cheerful. Don't tell me they got to you?"

An insulted expression appeared on her face to what he had said. What did he count her for? "Don't even think about it, and just so you know, then they aren't exactly the best people to get information out of people, not to mention that they cry easily." She eyed Jack at that comment, making Pitch follow her gaze to the young Guardian who sat on his knees in the snow with his hands behind his back and a black vine around his neck.

"You got the happy-go-lucky Guardian to cry?" He looked slightly impressed at her, as he let the vine around Jack's neck drag him backwards, making him yelp of the sudden movement, before he began to shout curses towards Pitch. "My, my, you're surprising me."

She grinned. "What can I say? I'm learning from the Master himself."

The Nightmare King nodded thoughtful and was about to speak when he got interupted; "Pitch, you're so getting it when I get free from here!" Pitch rolled his eyes at the comment from Jack, and made black sand spin around in his palm before it took form as a key. "Did you tell them anything?" He asked casually, ignoring Jack's continuing yelling, before he would open the cage to let her out. He wanted to know just how much she had told them before they did anything further. He kept her gaze for a moment, trying to feed on even the slightest fear from her, but for some reason there was nothing to spot at the moment. Maybe she had gotten too used to be around him? But then again, ever since what happened with her siblings, she hadn't created just as much fear as before. She was useless if she didn't soon start to fear something again. What a pity if he had to get rid of her so soon.

Samantha shrugged and crossed her arms. "Nothing of importance, now open the gate so I can get out." Pitch raised a non-existing eyebrow, making her sigh. "You want the whole resume?" He nodded. "Alright then; all I told them was what happened with Titanic, which made Frost cry, then I told the Easter Bunny that I chose to become a fearling and that's that. I didn't tell them about any of the other stuff, so let me out already. I'm tired of being stuck in here." Pitch rolled his eyes in annoyance as he unlocked the cage, and opened it so she could step out, watching how she thankfully jumped out of the cage and into the snow outside of it. "So what's the plan now? Are we going to kick their butts or are we going for a quick exit?"

Pitch looked at the guardians that still were caught by his vines of black sand. Sandy was still on his feet though, trying to get to them, but he didn't manage to do so. Tooth however had somehow managed to get herself half free. She was such a slippery little bastard, but she truly had seen better days; her plumage was horrible. It pleased him to see that his plan was working, but now there were other things on his mind. He honestly didn't care for the guardians at the moment, he just wanted her to get away from them as quickly as possible. "We're going home." The Nightmare King said in a dry tone as he morphed into the darkness and disappeared, leaving the dark portal open for her to follow through.

Sam hesitated only for a moment before she entered. She did not notice that the black vines had loosened around the guardians enough for them to get free the moment Pitch had left; Tooth managed to get herself free from the vines before anyone else, just as the shadows began to make Sam disappear. They couldn't afford to lose her now and she still had her fairies, so before any of her fellow Guardians could manage to react, she had yanked her body into Sam's and they both disappeared into the shadows.


	26. Labyrinth

**I don't know if you guys knew already, but news has just gotten to Denmark about Facebook being run by the CIA, to keep as many people on Earth under surveillance as possible for low cost. What a crazy world we live in, huh? But you have to give them credit for having made a fool out of us for this long, and that it's a creative idea for having done so, but it's still unbelievable that they fooled so many people into freely giving them information's about themselves, though it's giving unknowingly about the true intention of the website.**

**Mark Zuckerberg, I hope you choke on that medal you've gotten for it. Seriously take your medal and stick it up your arse where it belongs..!**

**... sorry, had to get it out... **

**Anywho, enjoy the chapter!**

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The black vines disappeared completely around the four guardians the moment the black shadow portal had disappeared.

The vine around Jack's neck loosened, making him cough as air filled his lungs again. The vines around his ankles and wrists disappeared as well, and his staff landed on the ground a bit away from him. He was thankful that Pitch hadn't broken it into half this time around at least – he had let them go easy, considering that they had taken his ally prisoner, not something you would expect from the Nightmare King.

Bunny landed on his head once the vines around him disappeared, making him curse of the impact, as he rose up with his paw on the upcoming swelling. Had he only had his belt with all his weapons, he could've have done a difference when Pitch had come. It was all Frostbite's fault for having spilled green paint all over it, so he had had to give it to one of the yetis to clean it up.

A frustrated grunt sounded from North who too had gotten free, and now stood and picked up his twin swords from the snow. He looked at Sandy, who was studying the place where Tooth had disappeared into. A sand picture had formed above his head, showing a miniature Tooth. The Guardian of Wonder sighed. This had all been a waste of time. He should have seen it coming – having taken some yetis with him to the basement, but no. Now they were on bare ground and Tooth had disappeared to who knows where, when she had yanked herself into Sam and both had disappeared through the dark portal. He was their leader, but he had let one of them disappear to enemy lands – there were no saying what would happen to Tooth now when she was with Pitch and Sam. They weren't exactly the best of spirits…

* * *

The Tooth Fairy found herself lying on cold block stone floor as soon as she opened her eyes. Just how long had she been out? When she had gone through the portal with Sam, she had apparently lost consciousness rather fast for some reason. Chills went down her spine when she remembered the suffocating feeling of tumbling through it, with a fire spirit right in front of her.

Tooth lifted herself up into the air, with her wings buzzing, almost silently echoing against the dark stone walls around her. She looked around, almost expecting either Samantha or Pitch to be nearby, but she could neither see anyone nor hear anything, except the low bussing of her wings. There was only empty darkness around her. Shouldn't Sam at least be around? They had sort of smashed into each other when they had went through the portal after all, but it they had ended up the same place was a mystery.

For a moment, she hung in the air, uncertain of what to do now. When she had followed Pitch and Sam, she hadn't really thought about what she would do after. All that had gone through her mind, was that she couldn't allow them to get away, not without having given her back her fairies. Those poor things, they must be truly terrified now, not being able to get back home to their Mama.

With a heavy sigh, Tooth began to slowly fly around, trying to find an exit from wherever she was; Pitch's lair, maybe? It was plausible, considering Pitch had said they would go home, before he had disappeared into the portal. If that was the case, then Pitch could be anywhere in the darkness, enjoying her blindly fumble her way through the darkness for an exit. He might even attack her, and she wouldn't be able to block nor see where the attack would come from.

Geez Tooth, what have you gotten yourself into this time?

Maybe she should have taken Sandy with her and pulled him through the portal too? No, that would've been a bad idea for two reasons. Reason number one, was that there hadn't been time for her to get Sandy. Had she taken him, Sam would've disappeared together with Pitch, and they would have been back to square one. Reason number two, was that after what had happened last Pitch had been alone with Sandy, they couldn't let Pitch get the opportunity to transform Sandy into nightmare sand again. They couldn't lose him to him again, so it was a good thing that he was still with the others, but she sure could use some company at the moment…

Wait.

What had happened to Baby Tooth?

The sudden realization made her stop up, with eyes wide and her thoughts running as fast as her wings flapped. Was Baby Tooth with the boys? She hadn't really seen much to her since the group hug, so it was possible, right? She could have hid in Jack's hoodie; she did that sometimes, but what now if she hadn't? What had happened to her when Pitch's vines had attacked them? Had she gotten captured too or had she been so small she hadn't been seen as a threat? But what if she had? What if one of the vines had choked her, like they had done with Jack? She couldn't hold her breath as long as Jack, so what if she lay in the snow somewhere back at the pole, dead, all covered by the snow, so they couldn't find her? They wouldn't be able to save her. She would either be dead by suffocating or by freezing! Tooth shook her head before she hit herself on the cheek to clear her mind - she shouldn't think like that. Baby Tooth wouldn't disappear from the world that easily. She was her second in command and a tough girl. But what if she was wrong? No. No, no, no, no. She wasn't wrong. Baby Tooth was safe and sound, one way or another. But … What if she had done just like her? Gone after Sam and Pitch? Tooth hadn't seen her however, but she could have been right in Tooth's heels, coming through only a moment after her? No. Baby Tooth wouldn't follow her here, would she? She was brave and all, but would she really risk her freedom again, after having been captured for so long? She'd just might.

Tooth shook her head, determined to think that Baby Tooth was safe and sound back with the guys, before she continued to carefully fly, not wanting to accidently fly head first into a wall. As she flew, she held her arms reached out in front of her, and after a while her palms were met by a hard stone wall. With the wall guiding her, she followed it, letting a hand glide over it. Sooner or later she had to find a door or hallway or something. Why did it have to be so dark anyway? Sure Pitch was a creature of the night, but couldn't he at least let a bit of light into this place? That wouldn't hurt anyone, not even him.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, she felt a corner, which she chose to follow. Better follow it and hope to get to an exit, right?

Right, left, left, right, straight for who knows how long, left, right, up, right, left… What if she flew in circles? Left, left, right, up, left, right, dead end, back again, new corner, new directions. Left, left, left, right, left, right, right, left. Could she only turn left? Left, left, down, right, left and a dead end, meaning she should head back again.

The silence around her was crushing, and it frustrated her. Wouldn't there at least be a sound of mice running around on the ground? Okay, this probably wasn't the best place for mice to live, considering the humid air and the lack of light, so maybe bats then? What else lives in dark cave-like things? Insects was something that could live there, right? Like glowworms, for example. Troglobite's lives in caves too, and Trogloxene's; those two were just categories for cave insects, but it was easier to just say that instead of each single species of insects. Who even knew the name for those eyeless, non-pigmented flatworms? Not to mention some of the venom-spitting pinchers that lives in some caves.* Wait… Why did she even know that in the first place? Since when had she shown interest in insects? She was over a thousand years old – all she had ever been interested in was teeth, after she had gotten her wings and feathers and all that had happened between her family and the Monkey King... It could be that she had picked up the knowledge somewhere along the way, when she had still been out collecting teeth by herself? Nah, biology wasn't exactly something the humans had gotten that far with back then, so maybe one of her fairies had found interest in that subject and send the information to her, without she realized it? It was possible; there were millions of them after all…

A silent laugh escaped her lips. Here she was, the Guardian of Memories, the Tooth Fairy, the Queen of Punjam Hy Loo, and whatever she was called, fumbling around in a pitch black cave, thinking about _insects_. What wouldn't the others think? Not that it mattered at the moment, but seriously, it was a bit ridicules.

Tooth went down a few new path's, wondering how long she had followed the wall around. Shouldn't she soon come to somewhere with light? Maybe she was on her way in the opposite direction of the exit? Not that she would be able to tell at all, considering that she had absolutely no idea where she was headed or where she was, not to mention that she couldn't see anything.

It was a dead end, again.

Frustrated, she followed the opposite wall back and followed a new path's twists and turns; left, right, right, left, right, left, dead end. She went back, trying to remember what she had done on her way there. Okay, new path. She followed it, trying to remember the long path, in case of another dead end, and it came rather fast actually.

Great. Just great.

Where was she, in a labyrinth or something?

She sighed but soon stopped up and listened. Was she hearing things now? That couldn't be … could it? She began to fly again, forcing herself to listen as intensely as she could. The longer she flew, the louder it became, though at the moment it was only like a whisper.

The darkness began to lighten bit by bit, not much however, but enough to make her able to see a cross road in front of her - left or right? She closed her eyes, listening concentrated before she went down the path to the left. Maybe it was just a joke played by Pitch to make her fall into a trap, or that she had started to hear things due to being alone in the dark, with no sounds at all for too long, but she was still certain. It was music echoing in the tunnels; a guitar to be exact and a voice singing.

She followed the sound, whether it was someone who was actually singing, or just some CD playing, it meant that there was someone nearby. Also, the whole place was beginning to lighten up a little so she now could see the outline of everything, the further she came, so it had to mean there was an exit somewhere, right?

Another corner was rounded, and the voice now loud enough for Tooth to hear the words in the lyrics.

She slowed her flying when she saw a silvery light at the end of the tunnel. This was it – she would figure whether she was being lured into a trap or not. She probably was. Why else would there be music in a place like this? But she didn't really have anywhere else to go other than back, and who knew if she ever would find another way out if she did?

There was only one way to find out.

Tooth flew towards the light and immediately stopped up of the sight that met her when she came to the end of the tunnel. It was beautiful.

The air was fresh and clean, compared to the humid air in the tunnel. The floor was mostly rocks near the opening of the cave tunnel, but grass, clovers, and nightshades filled the whole cavern floor and grew beautifully everywhere. Under a big willow tree, whose branches reached all the way to the ground, was a big flat stone, covered in moss. Water fell from a cavern wall, creating a brook that went through the scenery and ended up in a lake beside the willow tree. There was no ceiling in the big cavern, so the bright night sky with its millions of stars and a big bright moon shone down on it all, bathing it in a silver light, giving the flowers, the water and the leaves on the willow a silvery glow. It all looked so magical and intimidating. Who even knew such a place exist on Earth?

A figure sat alone under the willow tree with a guitar in hand, playing and singing to itself, not noticing the intruder at the cave entrance.

"… _In your eyes there is doubt  
As you try to figure it out  
But that's not what life is about  
So have faith there's a way_

_Though the world may try to define you  
it can't take the light that's inside you  
so don't you dare to try to hide  
Let your fears fade away…_"

Tooth watched the figure for a while, before her eyes gazed to the sky above her, silently asking MiM what the other Guardians was doing at the moment, but as expected there was no answer. MiM didn't say more than necessary, and apparently this time wasn't one of the times he thought he'd help the Guardians out. He was always like that; not want to interrupt unless it was highly necessary for him to do so.

The singing died out as the last tones were sung, and the figure now sat and stared out at the silvery lake, laying its guitar into the grass beside it. It seemed so peaceful, just sitting there, listening to the silence around it, still not noticing Tooth. It hid its face in the palms and sat silent from then on, the only thing breaking the silence was the sound of the water from the opposite side of the cavern.

For some reason, Tooth couldn't fly away, whether it was the scenery or the figure under the willow, then she just couldn't get herself to do it, so instead of flying off, she watched as the figure rose up, taking the black guitar in its hand and keeping its gaze on the lake for a while, before looking up at the moon above it.

Tooth gasped the moment the moonlight showed Samantha's face, starring up against the moon with pleading eyes. She seemed so lost, standing there with an expression like that. Why it came as a surprise that it was Sam, was a mystery. Maybe it was that knowing her singing could contain such emotions that surprised her? But none the less, who would have guessed she could even play guitar in the first place? There had been no traces of it in her memories, so it must've been something she had learned after being turned.

Samantha sighed deeply, before turning towards the cave opening, where Tooth was headed. The two girls froze at the same time the moment their eyes met. All the color disappeared from Sam's face as a shocked expression showed.

They stood like that for a while, before the fire spirit gave up with a sigh and made a neutral expression before she snapped her fingers, creating a loud sound, well loud, considering that the whole place was just as dead silent as the cave tunnels had been, so the sound was like bomb in the middle of all the silence.

The sound quickly died, but was soon followed by a sound of hooves against the stone floor behind Tooth, and before she knew, she was hit in the back and thrown up against the cavern wall by a big nightmare, bigger than most of the nightmares she had ever seen.

"So tell me, what brings _you_ here?" Sam crossed her arms, letting the guitar fall to the ground, and shifted her weight to one leg, while she studied Tooth. "I thought you would be lost in that labyrinth forever, but apparently bot Pitch and I were wrong. Half a day and you were out, impressive."

Tooth was too busy being squeezed up against the wall that she didn't answer. How could a nightmare, not to say a horse, be this heavy? Was it trying to break her rips or something? Oh Moon, she couldn't breathe, what was she going to do? She tried to push the horse away, she really did, but it didn't move even a centimeter away from her. Why was it even so big? It was unnatural!

Though Samantha seemed enjoyed by Tooth struggling for air, then she eventually looked at the horse, saying, "if you squeeze her too much she won't be able to speak, but don't loosen too much, she shouldn't be able to get away." The nightmare did as told, loosening enough for Tooth to be able to breathe properly without feeling like being suffocated. Thankful, Tooth gasped for air, flustered that such a thing was able to make sure she couldn't breathe, just by pressing her up against a wall.

"Why are you here?" Sam asked again, this time standing right in front of Tooth. "What made you follow me through the portal?"

Tooth looked at the girl while trying to even her breath. "I couldn't let you get away," she said while still breathing quickly. "You still have my fairies and I want them back."

The young girl raised an eyebrow. "_Your_ fairies? I think there's something you've misunderstood, you see, those fairies are yours no longer."

"They are mine! You can't just take them, like they're some – some price."

"A price? That's not what they are; they're more like mindless slaves at the moment…"

Tooth stared at her with disbelieve in her eyes. She had completely forgotten to ask Baby Tooth about what had happened to her and the others when they had been caught. "What have you done to them?"

She rolled her eyes and picked up her guitar from the ground. "Does that matter? Can't you just be satisfied with knowing they aren't dead? I'm just using them to spread the darkness around the world; you'll probably get them back when this's all over… maybe. Who knows, I might chose to keep them after that though. It depends on what I feel like, once you guys have been crushed."

Tooth looked at her as she shoved the guitar strap around her neck. She, and the other Guardians, had been told by Jack that Sam saw Pitch as a friend, but they had thought he was joking, but apparently he hadn't. To think that Pitch was the good guy, how deluded she must be. Why did she even think that anyway? Couldn't she see it was wrong, or at least remember the fairytale her mother had told her when she was a child? "How can you live with yourself like this? What happened to the sweet little girl you used to be when you were a child?"

Samantha seemed surprised at the questions, not having expected her to ask that. "That girl died a long time ago." She let her fingers make a silent accord on the guitar. "Together with the last piece of hope she held inside, as she realized there were no good left in the world for her." She hesitated, lowering her gaze for a moment, before continuing. "The world is a cruel place, Tooth Fairy. I can't understand why you can't see it. For you guys everything is wonderful, and a happy place for everybody, when in reality it's the complete opposite."

"Without any ugliness in the world," Tooth said, trying to make her understand that everything happens for a reason, "there would be nothing beautiful."

"Thank you for your sacrifice."

It took a second for Tooth to understand her response, but when she did, she got straight up offended. Did she just call her ugly? What was the matter with that girl? Though Tooth was hurt, and mad at her, she decided that this wasn't the time to get all emotional. Who had thought she would ever think like that? "What wouldn't your siblings have –". The horse rammed into her, so she got interrupted before she could've finished her sentence.

Samantha looked furious at her, her hair being literally on fire, her eyes glowing and her mouth was pulled up in a furious sneer. "Don't you _dare_ talk about them as if you know them," she thundered. "You have _no_ _right_ to neither bring them up nor use them against me as you please, you bitch! If you as much as fucking mentions them again, I will personally make sure you get a slow and painful death, you dumb and ignorant slut!"

"What's the matter with you?" Tooth exclaimed behind the horse, determined not to let her get away with calling her things like that. "You're just like the bullies from your childhood, calling people names, ganging up on them and using threats. You'll end up as your father. Just think what your sib – what your _mother_ would say!" She didn't say siblings, she had noted that that was very thin ice when it came to that girl, and it only seemed to make her furious when they were mentioned, as some emotional wound that hadn't been healed. She had expected her to start yelling again, saying whatever was on her mind, but she didn't. Her whole body started to tremble, her eyes stopped glowing and her hair fell down around her again, like when someone blew out a candle. It was impressive how quickly her emotions changed.

Sam hesitated, biting herself in her lip, obviously thinking about something that troubled her. Her fingers played with the strings on her guitar for a while, before she sighed as the random accords became a melody. "She wouldn't care. She didn't care when I was a child, so why should she care now? She left me when I was a fucking kid without even saying goodbye because I didn't behave. She left us with that monster because of _me_."

"You don't even know that," Tooth said, surprised of the sudden change in emotions in the girl. She was a mess; a big emotional mess that wasn't being fixed, and if she wasn't mistaking, then it seemed like she had a complex. "That was just what your father told you."

She shook her head, not wanting to continue the conversation anymore. Why did she even talk to this fairy in the first place, she didn't want to talk about anything personal with anyone, so why was she doing it with this woman anyway?

A bit frustrated, she looked up at the moon, trying to read what was on his mind. Why had he created her anyway? Couldn't he just have let her die in the flames?

She sighed and forced herself to think about something else. Pitch and she hadn't really been through what would happen if Tooth ever came through the labyrinth, because they hadn't really expected her to do so. Better call him then, no?

Ignoring Tooth's gaze, she locked away her feelings again as she walked to the cave opening and hesitated for a bit, before looking at Tooth. She really liked neither her nor the rest of the guardians. They were crazy, all of them. To think that she would be able to forgive and forget, not to mention see Pitch as the bad guy, what a laugh. Being with Pitch was the best thing that had happened to her. Maybe she needed to say something to make her understand that she didn't intend to turn her back to Pitch and join them, like ever? "Listen, I'm not saying I hate you. I'm just saying that if you got hit by a bus, I would be driving that bus." She turned back to face the cave, took a deep breath and yelled; "Yo' Pitch!"

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***Need to see some of the insect's Tooth is talking about? Here's a link to some of them. Watch them. I dare you. "**ngm,nationalgeographic,com/2007/09/new-trolobites- text**"**

**Song used: **youtube,com/watch?v=70VlAyEUXYM

** (just replace the comma's with dots in the links)**


	27. Useless

**I know, I know! The chapters aren't really that interesting, are they? Not that much action and no serious drama, just a bit of view into what Pitch thinks, plans and stuff…**

**And btw, I know the ending in this one isn't really the best thing I've made... I've started to have trouble with writing the chapters - I'm basically using my notebook and pencil up when I'm trying to brainstorm, and the outcome of what I'm making up isn't exactly pretty, so yeah, it's pretty annoying.**

**ヽ(#ﾟДﾟ)ﾉ┌┛Σ(ノ´Д`)ノ**

**(imagine that the emoticons above is me kicking my imagination... Yes, I'm frustrated with this at the moment..)**

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Pitch Black stood in the library in his lair, yet unknowing of Tooth escaping the labyrinth. He was, at the moment, searching through a few books containing fears and phobias, trying to find something of interest. He just needed something to read at the moment. His plans were going with grace, so taking the time to relax for a minute wouldn't even hurt him. The Guardians might as well just prepare for their doom. How long hadn't he and that naïve fire spirit, made them loose believers, right under their noses? Two months now? Probably, and the Guardians hadn't even noticed before he chose to speed things up three days ago. He knew they wouldn't have let it go unnoticed that the lights on the Globe would disappear that quickly, but he had known it would cause some panic between them, and he had been right; they had panicked and been desperate enough to break into his lair for clues. He had been delighted of observing them as they had tried to figure what was going on, but not for long, in case they felt his presence.

The Nightmare King turned a page in the book he held in his hand, skimming the words on the paper, not really paying attention to what it said. He had read the book before, so reading it again didn't seem that appealing. Who would read the same book twice? There were so many books in the world that it didn't make sense to do so. Yes, he was the Boogeyman, but even the he could find pleasure in reading books; of course those he read mostly contained death and fear. He had once tried to read a book that had been popular among the humans, but it had been absolutely horrible, not to say torture, to read for him. What had the title been anyway? He didn't remember and he didn't care. All he remembered was that there had been some sparkling vampire involved. It was impressive that he had been able to force himself into reading that stuff to the end. From that on he had made sure not to listen to some teenage human girl on the street for new stuff to read. But honestly, what was to be expected from humans?

He growled and sat the book back on the shelf, before pulling a big red one out, which he opened with no interest in reading it. He didn't remember half of the books he had in his library, it was huge after all. Bookcases stood from floor to ceiling on every wall, row after row, with countless of books residing in each one of them, making even the biggest of mortal libraries look like something the cat had dragged home. He had books from basically every era he had lived, after he had found this place, and, thanks to him by accident having found the lost library in Alexandria on a random trip to Egypt a millennium ago, he had gained some priceless papyrus rolls, that he knew human archeologists would die to get their hands on, which never would happen thanks to him.

The book didn't catch his interest, so he sat it back, and began to wander around the library, trying to find a title that would gain his attention. A shelf contained books on a language he did not understand, but which he knew was Danish. The reason he had those? It was simple, Sam needed something to read other than those cook books she had stored in her room. Not that he cared that much for what she read or for her in general, but if he had to make her believe that he actually cared, than he had had to give her a few things to make her feel like home in his lair. Even give her a secret garden, which had secured her being around for at least another year, not that she actually could get away, since she was part fearling now, but she still had some of her common sense residing inside of her, unfortunately. It did make things a bit more interesting that she still could think for herself, but he was impressed she had managed to keep his sand from completely taking over her body so far. Ten years and she was still only half nightmare. Maybe he should speed things up by adding a bit more? But on the other hand, he had seen her being in her nightmare form from time to time, so maybe there was still hope for him to get her completely under control? None the less, if she didn't start to fear something huge again nor be completely controlled by the sand soon, then he had to get rid of her. Permanently. She would be of no use then.

All she feared now was the ocean, insects and that he would turn on her. It was pathetic that she would fear such a thing; sure enough he knew that she blindly would believe anything he told her, do whatever he asked, and follow him literally everywhere, but how she had gotten so attached to him in such a small matter of time after she had transformed was a mystery to him. Apparently he had played his cards the right way, because it had only taken him a month, if not less, to make her completely believe that he wasn't like the ones from her past. Not to mention that he had to get past her complex (she had become utterly terrified for men after everything that had happened in her mortal life, which had been a huge bump on the road for Pitch, but he had eventually been manipulative enough to get to her).

But no matter what, his mind was set; no strong enough fear for him to gain more powers or no complete control of her body and mind, meant he had to kill her. Oh yes, he knew a way to kill an immortal spirit (more specifically a certain fire spirit), he just needed to figure if he had to. And he would enjoy every moment of it. Sure, he was proud of her, but not in the way most people would consider proud.

He was proud of her having been filled with lots of fears so he could regain power, but since the happening with her siblings, she no longer had held any fears that was strong enough for his likening. And he hated it. Just imagine how angry, frustrating and furious he had become, when she one day had gotten home, and he had expected her to still have that strong mesmerizing and addicting fear emitting from her, and then he had just found her completely empty for it, even signs of any emotions. She had been like a zombie for a whole cursed year, making him wonder if she ever would get herself back together, but eventually he figured what had happened and had stolen her tooth box from the Tooth Palace and given it to her. He had told her what it was and what it contained. If he had to be honest with himself, it had been out of character, but she had pulled herself together after having watched her memories for at least a thousand times (after a while he stopped counting, leaving a nightmare to do the job (since he had better things to do), just out of curiosity to how many times she actually let herself live through the horrors of her mortal life. Not that he complained – her fears almost always exploded around her whenever she did, making him able to gain more power, meaning it had been a good idea from his side), and then she had tried everything to forget them again by working extra hard for him. But none the less, she was a failure by now. Sure she could assist him from time to time, but to be honest, he despised her.

Pitch walked between rows of bookcases, having lost interest in any at the moment, so instead walked out into the black corridors of his home, starting to wonder if he shouldn't just get back to work, instead of trying to relax. He never was one for relaxation, so why he had even bothered to consider doing so was a mystery to him. Maybe her influence, from before the memory box had come along, had started to get to him? What complete and utter failure he would be if he let himself getting affected by a naïve teenage girl, and that could not be tolerated. He face-palmed, which has rare for him to do so, but since no one was around then he could do it without anyone see him lose his proud posture. Last time he had fought, he had taken everything so easy when he had been certain that he would win, and just look what that had led to – him being stuck with his fears for who knows how long; four decades, maybe?

"_Yo' Pitch_!" A distant yell echoed through the corridor and met him.

Annoyed he closed his eyes. Why did she always want to get his attention when he least wanted it? Maybe he should just have tried to make her a mindless slave right away when she had been turned? No. He had had to feed on her fear, so he had chosen correctly back then, even if that had meant making her believe he was her friend.

With a deep sigh, he let himself get swallowed by the shadows, before he popped up in her secret garden a few moments later, watching her from the shadows. He really didn't want to talk to her right now, but if he had to make sure she would continue to have the illusion of having friends, he had to; at least until he had won against the Guardians, so he could do with her whatever he pleased, and she was not going to like it. He took a deep breath, straightened his posture and walked towards her.

* * *

Tooth watched as Pitch Black walked out of the darkness near Sam. Just the sight of him made her heart skip a beat, and it was not in a good way.

"Yes?" His voice send chills down her spine and her blood freeze to ice, not to mention the sight of his teeth made her sick. They were horrible. A sight for the devils! Oh those poor things, to think they had to be that mistreated by such a man. They would never have a chance for getting normal. There were fractures all over them and not even what looked like normal teeth. It was horrifying to watch. At least her girls didn't have to witness them, though they all was well aware that his teeth was bad, then only Baby Tooth and maybe four or five more had witnessed them over the years.

By the sound of Pitch's voice, the fire spirit sun around, surprised of finding him behind her, instead of from the tunnel in front of her. She seemed flustered for a moment, but eventually got her cool back up. "I got a present for you." He raised an eyebrow, following her gesture to the big nightmare that stood leaning up against the cavern wall, where Tooth was trapped, watching him with cautious eyes, but tried to get as invisible behind the nightmare as possible. She really did not like to have him watching her.

He would not lie to say that he wasn't surprised of seeing that she had found her way through the labyrinth – they had taken her to the middle of it after all, and considering that she couldn't see in the dark, then it was quite the achievement for the fairy. Not that he would ever say that to her. "My, my, what a surprise it is to see you out of the labyrinth so soon." He tilted his head slightly as he walked towards her, making black sand shot up from the ground and burry her legs, before he sent the nightmare away. Panicky she tried to fly away, the second the nightmare was gone, but she was stuck in the cement-like sand, making Pitch make a dark chuckle. She eventually gave up, and flinched when he talked to her again, making her reconsider just how good an idea it had been for her to chase after them. What had she even been thinking? "But since you are conscious now at least, then tell me what you chose to come here." He paused before a smirk appeared on his lips. "Oh, I already know." He waved his hand around a few times before he puzzled let it fall again.

The Guardian had expected something to happen, but nothing did. She just stared at the Boogeyman in front of her with eyes big, first with horror, then with wonder. Was anything supposed to happen? At the corner of her eye, she saw Sam was catching something in her hands, but she couldn't see what it was. The girl looked terrified and so deep in thoughts that it was absolutely frustrating to watch. Just a few minutes before, she had been so confident that she had even insulted Tooth a couple of times, while keeping her cool, but now it seemed that something was really wrong with her.

Pitch noticed the fear from his ally. It had appeared the moment he had tried to summon the fairies. He took an annoyed breath, before slowly walking over to her, keeping his proud posture, and looked down on her with a sneer on his lips. There was no hiding that he was angry at the moment. She didn't tell him _that_; _that_ which was of huge importance. She had just forgotten? It was needless to say that he was about to have enough of her. _Easy Pitch, it is only until she is completely under control_. But would she even be useless as a full nightmare? Just look at how useful she was now; forgetting to tell him something that important. She was pathetic and he hated her very being. Had he ever seemed like he liked her, it had been pure act. "And you forgot to tell me this, why?" He asked with a frown and eyes lightening towards her, making her flinch. "Don't you think that you, during the time you have been free, could have informed me that this was the case; do you intend to make a fool out of me, after everything I have done for you?"

Tooth watched cautious at the calm figure in front of the trembling girl. She looked so tiny compared to him now, and according to what Tooth could understand out of the situation, then she had feared something that was of enough importance for Pitch to forget about Tooth at the moment. She completely understood why Sam had started to tremble – the venom in his voice made even Tooth feel like shattering of fear for the man. He wasn't just angry. He was furious.

"I – I'm sorry, I forgot, but…"

"But?" He spat in an ice cold tone that would make even Jack Frost shiver. At the moment he really didn't care whether he pushed her away from him or not. "You think that I'll just let you pass with this?"

"Listen, I just f – forgot that they t – turn back when they ... I fucking got captured by them, Pitch! Don't you think I had other th - things on my mind than telling y – you about one of the f – fairies?" Her voice was shaking and her hands clutched onto whatever it were that was inside them, which obvious was struggling to get out. "It's not my fucking fault!"

Pitch bowed down to her height, looking her directly in the eyes. "Not your fault?" He whispered in a low voice so only the two of them could hear, but Tooth could tell that everything he whispered, made the girl even more scared for every word he said. "Of course it is not _your_ fault for forgetting they turn back when they see some they hold dear to their hearts. It is not _your_ fault for not having controlled the sand well enough for their hearts to be completely darkened. It is needless to say that it is not _your_ fault for having thought that it would go unnoticed. Neither is it _your_ fault that thinking that still sending prayers to the moon, would just go unnoticed by me." Pitch continued, as a horrifying smirk appeared on his lips. He hated her. It was that simple. He didn't care if he had to control almost four million fairies on his own, but this girl had to go. How could he even have cooperated with her for this long? "But what I have in mind for you after having found this out, well, let's just say that you _won't_ forget it. Oh? Is that fear I can smell?"

Samantha swallowed loudly; right now she was utterly terrified for the old male, suddenly realizing that this was what people who weren't his ally saw, and she had never been this terrified, maybe not even when she was still a mortal. She was just glad he wasn't going to kill her. A punishment, no matter how terrifying it was going to be, was what she could handle, knowing it couldn't possibly kill her; she took comfort in the thought, and yet, she was more scared than ever. There was pure evil in his eyes, something she had never seen in them before, so it was only natural for her to be scared, but despite her logical thinking, she felt like she was going to die.

"Are you afraid?" Pitch continued, now in a voice loud enough for Tooth to hear. Sam barely made a nod. "Good." He turned around, making the young girl tense down, unknowing of what was in store for her.


	28. Going to be Told

**Really sorry that I haven't updated as much as I should, I've been busy with another fanfiction, and didn't really have the inspiration for this story, but I hope I can hold it for the last chapters, and hopefully try to make them longer… This isn't much, but it was all I could create this evening, please don't hate D:**

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The four male guardians appeared through one of Bunny's tunnels right in the middle of Pitch's lair to search for Tooth. They tried to appear as quiet as possible, to not gain any unwanted attention, but they shouldn't even have bothered to try. When North appeared, he landed on the ground with a huge bump that echoed through the lair, whereas the three others hadn't made even the slightest noise. It didn't get any better when the big man began to curse in his native language, while rubbing his big hand on his sore butt when he stood up, obviously thinking more about his end than their situation.

They hissed on him to make him shut up, before they began to find their way through the lair in search for their missing friend. Neither of them felt comfortable, knowing that they were on enemy ground, and that Pitch and his nightmares could easily attack them from every angle without them even being able to dodge, not to mention the whole place creeped them out. It fit Pitch's personality perfectly – creepy, dark and uncomfortable.

Jack remembered the last time he sat his foot in this place, back when they last had fought him, and the place hadn't exactly gotten more cheerful during the last seventy-one years. Could it possibly have gotten creepier over the years?

He looked at his fellow guardians who all walked in front of him. Neither of them knew about what had happened during that time, when they had thought he had betrayed them. He had no intention of telling them ever, not only because it had no relevance anymore, but also because he didn't tell them everything that was going on in his life. He still had his doubts about them, not that he could do anything against it – 300 years alone was a long time to be alone, and it had been hard to just as much as put his trust into the guardians, but he had slowly started to thaw towards them, and despite his continuous doubts and lonely feeling, then he loved them now, even if the doubt wouldn't disappear completely, but he had learned himself to live with it.

As the guardians continued to walk through the maze-like tunnels, not exchanging a single word between them, Jack couldn't help but twitch his fingers in need for doing something. He knew now wasn't a good time, but the situation was too serious, and he had to do something to ease the tension from both his friends and himself. He was the Guardian of Fun, but right now he didn't have fun at all, and it made him slightly frustrated.

He studied their surroundings, trying to figure what he could do. Sandy was up front, letting his sand light up their path, closely followed by North and Bunny walked behind him. _Cottontail seems like he needs to cool a bit down_, Jack thought with a mischievous smile on his lips. Now probably wasn't the time for this, but he had to do something, so with a light tap on the ground, he sent ice onto it and made it spread out under Bunny's feet, making him slip and land on the ground with a surprised yelp, causing the others to look at him in confusion. Jack however was grinning more than ever, and had to keep himself from laughing, however he couldn't help but chuckle at the sight.

Bunny grumped, and got to his feet, looking madly at Jack, before he whispering yelled; "Listen up ya berk, we are on enemy territory! This is not the time for pranks!"

Jack rolled his eyes, and rested his staff on his shoulders. "Oh really? I thought we were going for a picnic." His sarcasm was thick, and made Bunny's eyes twitch, but before the kangaroo could say anything Jack continued; "Relax it was _fun_, and I need fun wherever I go, if you remember? You know, being the _Guardian_ of _Fun_ and all…"

Bunny opened his mouth, but shut it again, apparently fighting himself for what he wanted to say. He couldn't really argument against what Jack had said – it was a fact that Jack needed his fun. He was the goddamn personification of fun, but that didn't mean that he could do as he pleased, here of all places. The Easter Bunny scowled as he turned around, and began to walk with the others, ignoring the smirk on Jack's face.

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"Stop it! You're hurting her!" Tooth's yell echoed through the chilly night air in the cavern, where she was being held captured. Her wings were no longer able to make her fly – she had lost that many believers already, but at the moment she didn't care. She was simply too upset. All she cared for was the two figures by the lake.

Despite her yell, nothing happened; they didn't even look her way.

The Nightmare King stood and watched the twisting figure on the ground with a satisfied grin on his lips. Sam's expressions showed nothing but agony and pain, while muffled cries sounded from behind the gag and tears fell from her closed eyes.

Pitch lifted a long staff he had created out of his nightmare sand and hit the girl on the back, earning yet another muffled scream as the pain spread through her body.

Tooth flinched at the sound, yelling at him to stop, but he just ignored her as he hit the girl again, not wanting to stop at nothing; he was sick, and he was tired of her. He wanted to make sure that she would never forget to not disappoint him again. Or be able to do anything else than wilt in the wind when he was done with her.

Her cries were like sweet music to his ears and fear was emitting from her, making him want more. He knew she was afraid for men being violent. That was one of her greatest fears. She had hided that so great, that even Pitch had had trouble seeing it, but the moment he had started hitting her, she had forgotten to keep her walls up, and he had had a direct look into her continuous bleeding heart. It was impressive that she was able to keep her fears hidden from him, but now it was over. He had had enough of her and he wanted to break her like the pathetic creature she was. He knew it was easy. A bit of torture would do the trick to make her forever fearful, however; this was not the only thing he wanted with her.

A wicked grin showed on the Nightmare King's lips as their eyes locked, fear clearly showing in her eyes, begging him to stop, but to no avail.

He kicked her in the side, making her roll on to her back, before he let black sand robes appear around her neck, and fastened by his command, making her choke, as they tightened and cut off her air supply.

"My dear Tooth Fairy," Pitch said in a calm voice, while observing the fire spirit who struggled for air on the ground. His eyes did not leave her when he spoke, and therefore didn't see the flinch Toothiana made when he said her name. "Do you know what it takes for a spirit to die?" He didn't expect an answer, so he continued, ignoring the fear from the fairy as she realized what Pitch was planning to do. "Guardians have to keep believers to stay alive, and attached to this world, with their center intact." He loosened the robe around Sam's neck, letting her breath for a moment; she greedily sucked in the oxygen and coughed behind the gag. "If your center is broken, so are you. If your center is destroyed you will not be able to keep believers, thus disappear from the world, but I am sure you're already aware of that." He glanced towards the silent fairy, who stared back at him with eyes wide in horror. "For other spirits, that's another talk, yet the same. Every spirit has a center, yours is memories, mine is fear, and this girl," he gestured disgusted towards his minion, just as the robe tightened around her neck again, "her center is _family_."

A chocked cry sounded from Sam, as Pitch let the staff hit her as he said the last word, making an evil chuckle as he felt the fear emitting from her. "If you crush the center ina spirit who had no believers, no purpose, isn't _pure_ anymore, then they will die a very _very_ painful death. The center is like spirits' liveforce." He smirked before changing subject. "Do you know what happened in her past? Of course, what am I asking, you're the one who has access to all memories of every single human-being on Earth, and I can see you showed it to the other guardians as well, how disappointing." Tooth stiffened, eyes widening, she knew that Pitch knew she wouldn't allow anyone, not even herself, to watch the memories of children, and his expression made her feel so horribly guilty of her choice. "Wasn't her childhood just lovely?" He questioned in a monotone voice, expertly keeping his emotions out of it, "especially the parts where _I_ was with her. But there is something I must tell you, it is what happened _after_ the memories, a few years ago to be precise, about why she was in possession of her memory box."

"W – why tell me?" Tooth asked, truly confused over his sudden urge to tell her something, she hadn't even given a thought since she had held it in her hands.

"Because you don't have long either." He once again let the girl breath, just as she was about to pass out by lack of oxygen. "And I want to let this girl suffer before I end her." He pulled Sam up in a sitting position by the hair, earning a pained yell from her. "Did you ever wonder what happened to her family, and her 'oh so beloved' siblings?"

Sam's eyes widened in fear, and she began to yell to him, though it wasn't understandable due to the gag. Tears had started to fell from her eyes again, and she desperately tried to beg him not to tell, but with no luck.

Tooth didn't respond to Pitch, as she watched the desperate struggling spirit by his side. She had thought a lot about it actually, but she had just tried to push it aside, concentrating on figuring a way to make Sam turn against Pitch, but with no avail. That girl was simply too into Pitch, had seen him as some sort of savior, instead of the monster he was, but now… Sam was afraid of him, it was obvious. And the way she reacted to him mentioning the happening, whatever that might be then it wasn't going to be a pleasant story.

"I'm going to tell you," he said, earning a desperate unhappy cry from the gagged spirit. He looked at the fire sprite for a moment, raising an eyebrow. "Oh but Samantha, what are you afraid of? That the truth about what happened, what you did, will get out in the open? That they will see you in a light, just as bad as they see me? My, I'm disappointed at you. You're truly trying to go against your master, what a pathetic minion you are."

Sam looked at him with pleading eyes, desperately trying to make him change his mind, but it didn't help. His mind was set, and he was going to enjoy seeing her suffer by the pain of those memories. And Tooth would suffer too – if anyone remembered something painful while she was around, she would be able to feel the pain as well. It was a two in one deal.

"You should be thankful, that I make sure you don't have to suffer telling the Guardians about how you did it."

She shamefuly looked away, knowing what was going to happen, sobs trying to force them-selves up her throat, but she tried her best to keep them away, preparing herself to what was coming. She didn't want the Tooth Fairy, or any other spirit to know. It was too painful.

"Now," Pitch continued and turned his attention back towards Tooth, who was starting to gasp by the already dulling pain from the memories that had appeared in Sam's head. "How about I tell you a story about how this girl killed her beloved siblings?"


	29. Worse than him

**Here's a long chapter! Now, if you will excuse me, I have a party to prepare, meaning I'll be back sooner or later to correct eventual errors!**

**Note - it was made rather quick, you have been warned! D:**

* * *

The air was silent as Pitch's words had echoed through the cavern. The Moon's shining dimmed on the dark night sky, as he was silently observing what was happening under him. Even the continuous noise from the waterfall seemed to have silenced.

The Tooth Fairy was staring at the Boogeyman, unable to speak a word. Her breath came in short gasps, due to the already painful memories, and her heart had begun to hurt, due to had already had settled in the fire spirit's mind. Though she yet had to be told about what had happened, and she still had no clue of what to expect, other than knowing how, and most importantly, _why, _Sam would kill her siblings, whom she so obviously had loved more than her own life when she still had been a mortal. However, Tooth knew that the Nightmare King most certainly would feed her lies to turn her against his minion, and thereby hate her as much as she hated him. But there were truth in his eyes, and Sam's reaction when he had threatened with telling had told her that what he would indeed tell the truth.

Tooth watched with pity at the sobbing spirit; even if she wasn't an ally, then she was still a child, just like Jack. A child who had had a rough life and chosen to put her trust into the wrong man, and now was suffering the consequences of that decision.

With a last smile on his face, Pitch began to tell the story, while memories began to play for both girl's eyes.

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It was five years since Sam had turned a spirit. She didn't like being what she was and she didn't like what she had become, both thanks to Man in Moon but also thanks to Pitch. He had offered her power to get revenge over the people whom had done her wrong while she had been a human, and at that moment she had greedily accepted, wanting nothing more than to cause them harm. She had liked it, the power to mess with their heads, with Pitch by her side to tell her what to do, how to control the sand, how to see their fears. She had liked it, she really had, but the sand inside her had started to feel weird, not weird as it had in the beginning, then it had just been weirdly painful, but now it was more of a - what could you call it – a paralyzing feeling, like her whole insides were beginning to change, she could feel it, just as she could feel big parts of her mind to be clouded with darkness, hatred and fear. She was sure that if she didn't have such protective walls around her heart and feelings, then it would swallow her.

She had confronted Pitch with it, but his only answer was that it was power she could feel flowing through her, that it would only last a little while, and then it would be gone. But it had already been a whole year since it had started, yet it hadn't changed, in fact, it had only seemed to increase. Her eyes had even changed color into the same yellow as Pitch's were, instead of remaining the brown they had always been, even after she had been… _burned_.

Even when she had seen herself all covered in black sand, like one of his fearlings, he had assured her that it was only a step in the progress of her gaining powers. She thought she saw a lie behind his words, a victorious glimpse in his eyes by the information she had just provided him with, but she didn't think too much about it – he was her _friend_, and he wouldn't do anything to hurt her. That was what friends did, right? Protect each other, helping them, not hurting them on purpose… right?

She still had to adjust to the thought of having a friend; never before had she actually had one, but now she had, and he had taken her under his wing when she had been scared the most of her new life, telling her about the secrets of a hidden world with childhood believes. Telling her the horrifying truth about the guardians – how they had joyfully crushed him all because he wanted to _be_ wanted. Have a family, have friends. Be believed in, which she had learned was important to spirits, she still did not fully understand why though.

She had started to hate them, because if Pitch hated them, so did she, more than she already did, now that she had realized they were actually real.

She hated Santa Clause for bringing wonder, where Pitch would bring protective fear into children's hearts, so they wouldn't get hurt, and she hated him for never having come to her house even one Christmas, while she still had believed in him, and for never once bringing her enough wonder to see the few possibilities she had to make her life better while she still had a chance.

She hated the Easter Bunny for bringing hope, where Pitch would make sure the children wouldn't get sad over having their hopes crushed by realizing reality, by removing it, to protect them. She hated the Easter Bunny for having given her hope for a better future, without pain and a life away from her father. For giving her siblings false hope of the light that would never come.

She hated the Tooth Fairy for taking the teeth of the children around the world, to keep the memories and make the children remember the happy times, when Pitch would make them remember than not everything was sunshine and rainbows. That bad memories were what protected children, made them remember to wear a helmet when they sat on their bikes, to not hit their head against the ground again. He made them remember to fear being hurt. She hated the Tooth Fairy for never have come to her home and collect any teeth, making her fake it to her siblings each morning, saying it was great she had come, when in reality she never did.

She hated the Sandman because he was Pitch's rival. He made dreams while Pitch made nightmares. They were opposites, which only made it natural for her to hate him like Pitch did. But she also hated him for having given her a dream about a better future, when her whole life had been a nightmare.

But most of all, she hated Jack Frost. Pitch hated that spirit, because thanks to him, Pitch never got a family, even though he had asked the winter spirit to join him, then he had turned his back to him, leaving Pitch alone again. Thanks to him, Pitch had been stuck in his lair for decades, only to rot away with his nightmares. She had never thought Jack Frost as real when she was alive, but now that she knew, she hated him for bringing the snow, because she hated snow. She hated him for bringing fun, when fun was but an illusion. Just like hopes and wonders and dreams.

She hated the guardians for what they had done to Pitch, when he was such a nice guy, who had even given her powers to get revenge.

She hated them… And she hated herself.

The Fire spirit hated herself for having lived on a lie, thinking there had been a bright future ahead of her, when she had turned eighteen. She hated herself for having believed in wondering if everything would be okay. She hated herself for having dreamed of getting away. She hated her memories of a horrible past. She hated it all so much. But most of all, then she hated that she wasn't there for her siblings anymore. She hated that she didn't know what had become of them, that she didn't know where they were, how they felt, how they looked like now… Didn't know if they missed her, or simply didn't care if she was gone.

She had tried not to think too much about it, she really had; hoping that her brother would be able to protect their younger sister, but she feared for the bruises he would get if he did. Knowing how their father reacted, how much it hurt when being hit, and being a shield for them, she couldn't imagine her siblings being hit without tears forming in her eyes. But her siblings were five years older… Benjamin would be around nineteen, while Katrine would be sixteen. They were big now, yet she hadn't seen them grow up. She hadn't seen them since they left the house on that fateful day, which had proven to be her last. She didn't even know if they were still alive!

Her body trembled as she thought of the possibility of them being dead. It was her biggest fear, now that she couldn't protect them, didn't have any contact with them anymore. She had tried to search her hometown for a glimpse of them, whenever she and Pitch were done messing with some dreams of the bullies from her mortal life, but she never could, no matter how much she looked, before Pitch would force her back into the shadows, just before the Sandman would come.

She didn't like it, they shouldn't just be gone like that, but of course, she was only outside during the night, as long as her body were transforming, changing, call it what you want, she could feel her becoming different, much more hateful and bitter… _evil_.

But she worried for her siblings. Five years without as much as seeing a glimpse of their blonde hair, was too much for her. She needed to see them. She needed to know if they were okay or not. She needed to hear their voices, see their hopefully happy faces.

The only problem was.. She wasn't allowed outside the lair without Pitch by her side, as she did not yet know how to control her powers at all, whether they were those she had reborn with or given by Pitch, didn't matter. She was just as good at using them, as a fish was to breathe on land. But when she finally managed to do something with them, they were out of control. She had managed to learn to fly at least, though not without having to create a massive fire under her feet, like some missile until she hopefully would learn how to fly without it, and the flying part wasn't the most graceful thing she could do.

But she needed to see her siblings…

Pitch would be so mad at her if – _when_ he found out.

Maybe they weren't even alive anymore.

He would kill her… sort of…

She needed to know.

With a hesitant breath, she found her way the exit of the lair, though she kept her distance to the opening as she paused, reconsidering what she was about to do. The moon wasn't out, which was good, since Pitch didn't like her to be seen by Man in Moon before her new powers were done transforming. And she didn't like being seen by Man in Moon, because it was thanks to him that she had to live through a life, where she thought praying to the moon would help her. That he would protect her, like in her mother's fairytale. But she now knew that Tsar Luna had no intentions of ever helping anyone but himself. What had been the point in creating her as a spirit been anyway? Did he enjoy seeing her suffer through all eternity?

She glanced over her shoulder. None of the shadows seemed different, meaning Pitch wasn't anywhere nearby, watching her from the shadows, which was good too. Then he couldn't confront her in what she was about to do or thought she would do, she still were in a battle with herself.

If she went outside on her own, she knew how furious Pitch would be, and it wasn't even sure if she would find anything. She didn't even know where to start.

But if she stayed away from the world in the lair, then Pitch would not need to get angry of her disobeying her, but she would never know what had happened to her siblings – her _family_.

With one last, nervous glance over her shoulder, she made her way to the outside only to seconds later beginning to sprint like there was someone chasing her, knowing she wasn't allowed to do this. She wasn't allowed to be here, not without him by her side, to make sure she didn't hurt herself. But now, when she was out on her own, she had to pull this through. She needed to know what had happened to them.

If she didn't then she maybe never would find the rest to let them go, to let herself accept the fact that … she wasn't with them anymore.

After a few failed attempts to fly, she finally managed to get the fire working, and shot through the sky over Italy, where the lair was resided. It would be quite the trip to the small country up North which she used to call her homeland. Now, it was nothing more than a place where she - _maybe_ - had someone who still remembered her. Who – _maybe_ – still loved her despite her passing five years ago?

She hadn't thought much about her own death in the passing years, maybe because her brain declined the thought of such a thing ever occurring to her. But she could still, from time to time, remember the pain of being burned alive. It had been so painful, that nothing could even compare to it… Maybe if you got a bucket of melted quicksilver tossed over you, the pain would be the same, but who was there to try it out?

She felt like Tsar Luna's choice of powers to her, had been a way of mocking her, making sure she never forgot what had happened to her. Every time she used her fire powers, she saw her father's face; the face of the betrayer, the face of the man who killed her. And each time she saw it, she got angry, hateful, furious, felt betrayed… felt sad. So sad she just wanted to break down and cry, but she never did, as she did not like to cry. Crying were for the weak, and she was most certainly not weak, and even if she was, then she wouldn't be anymore, anytime soon, when her new powers finally would let her control the shadows as well.

Once she finally reached the boarder, she changed her direction towards where she knew her old home town was located. If she was going to start somewhere, why not start from the beginning?

The one place where it all had started, and ended, at least for her.

She still didn't know what had happened, so all she really could to was to hope for the best, and fear for the worst.

There it was again... Fear…

She used to fear a lot, but she never really understood why. Why did she have to fear, when all she should have done was to kill that man, who had haunted her nightmares through her entire life? But had she done that then there were no telling what would have happened to her siblings, when they would be sent away, probably to the orphanage. She would have gotten a few years in jail, but would it have been worth it, if it meant getting rid of her father?

A frown appeared on her face, as she hung in the air above the ruins of her childhood home. She didn't know where to go now. She didn't even know where they had moved to, after this place had been burned to nothing more than … this.

Seeing it all again was weird, and it felt alien to her. Yet, when the sun had started to peak above the horizon, and she should have gone back home, she couldn't make herself do it. She had spent her entire life here, and the first few months of her immortal life as well. Despite her hatred for the place, then it was still her home, of some sort. And she needed a rest, so why not simply sleep in the ruins?

She hesitated, as she hung in the air, starring at the remains of the house. The sun was now clearly visible on the sky, and the touch of the light upon her skin, made her body hurt, but she didn't care, she didn't even notice, as she stared. Horror was slowly filling her at the thought of entering the ruins again. Why had she even considered sleeping there, when that place contained such horrible memories? She had barely even gotten any sleep, when she had lived there after she died.

As the sunrays made the sand in her twist in agony, she turned to leave, suddenly realizing that this would be one of the places Pitch would first look after her, when he would realize she was gone, when it would get dark again. She couldn't stay.

Besides, she had a mission of finding what had happened to her siblings, meaning there was no time to rest.

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She walked along a path in the bigger towns near her old hometown. She had been searching wherever she could imagine them to be for days, but it was like searching for a needle in a stack of hay. She had searched at her relative's places, only to find out her grandfather had died shortly after she had, but there were nothing that told her where her siblings were, no phone number, no addressee book, no nothing. Only an old picture her grandmother had taken when they were still kids and together, sitting on the porch with ice-creams in the warm summer, seemingly happy there. She didn't remember much about that day, when it had been taken, but seeing the smiles on her sibling's faces, she knew it had been a good day. The only problem had been that it had been so obvious her own smile had been a façade, hiding away the true pain she felt underneath, not wanting to worry anyone.

A sigh escaped her lips as she dodged being walked through by some guy, nothing something she had gotten used. But who could possibly get used to that? It was like she was a ghost in this world, with nothing else to keep her going than the thought of _maybe_ be able to see her loved ones before finding peace, to go into the light.

Away from the pain…

She passed shop after shop, looking through every window in hopes of getting even a glimpse of familiar blonde hair, the loving face of her sister, and the round cheeks of her brother's. But there was nothing.

Five years, and it wasn't even certain they still looked like they had back then.

It was frustrating, to not know. To not know where they were or how they were. It was frustrating to not know anything at all.

But despite the sadness that threatened to take over, she continued her search down the street, looking at each passing figure in hope of seeing them, but nothing showed.

She sat down on a bench near a fountain with her head hid away in her hands. Maybe she should just give it all up and accept the fact that she would never know. Go back to Pitch and spread some nightmares, get a better control of her powers. Stay hidden from the world, from the Man in the Moon, from the light from the sun.

Her hands pulled in her hair, as her eyes settled on the ground beneath her, staring blankly without really seeing. It had been a waste of time. All of it. How could she even have dared to hope finding the answers to her questions? She should know better than that, yet she had still fooled her-self to hope, and had thereby hurt herself even more.

She didn't know how long she sat there; only that suddenly someone sat themselves right through her, making pain shoot through her body, as she morphed through a non-believer's body. She sprang away from the contact, clutching the fabric over her heart which felt as if it was about to be ripped out of her chest, as she stared at the small girl who had chosen to sit where she had just moments ago. She hissed at the girl, hating that she had made her feel the pain of being walked through again. If only the girl could see her, then she would surely choose to punish her someway, yell at her maybe, but never using violence, she had had too much of that in her life, that she wouldn't use it on anyone else.

The girl didn't seem to be more than eight years at highest, as she sat there on Sam's spot on the bench, watching the fountain with a doll in her hands, from time to time glancing against the muffin shop nearby. She was obviously waiting for someone, and it didn't take long before a wide grin appeared on her face as she saw who she was waiting for come out with a bag in his hands.

Sam froze in her step, as she had begun to walk away from the girl, not wanting to linger and think of how happy she could have been, like this girl obviously was, had only her father treated her nicely. The voice she heard made her heart skip a beat, and her breath starting to quicken as well as tears starting to burn in her eyes.

"Who is the best cousin in the world?"

The girl smiled wildly, at the question as the youngster held the bag behind his bag, doing a bad job at hiding what he had bought. "You are!"

Sam slowly turned, just enough to see her brother handing the girl a big muffin, while he ruffled her brown hair in admiration.

He was so… mature. His round cheeks were gone, but he still managed to look like the boy she used to know. His hair had gotten darker though it still remained blonde, he had grown a lot, and his voice was darker, but she would still be able to recognize it anywhere. But his blue eyes, now hid behind a pair of glasses, were haunted, and that wasn't a good sign, but he hid it under a smile and a cheerful façade.

Unconsciously she had reached her hand towards him, to grab him, hold him tight, tell him how much she missed him, but she caught herself in the act, pulling her hand back, and hold it to her chest as if she was uncertain of what to do. She didn't know. She hadn't really thought about it; what was she expecting to do once she would find them?

They couldn't see her, yet alone touch her. To them she was like a ghost.

Nervously she sat down on her knees in front of the bench, not daring to take her eyes off of her brother, as if he would disappear if she did.

He was with their cousin. Last she had seen her she hadn't even been a year old. When she had died she had been three. It was weird to imagine that little infant this big, but she didn't care for her, all she cared for was the nineteen year old boy right in front of her, eating a muffin, while watching the spring sky above them.

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Benjamin walked down the sidewalk with his hands stuffed in his pockets and music in his ears. He had brought his cousin back to her parents, so now he was on his way home, where his sister would be waiting with food.

He didn't know of the spirit that followed him close by, staring at him with blank eyes and a begging look. She wanted him to see her. She begged for him to see her, but what could she do? If she were to get his attention, that would mean try to use her powers, but since she was barely in control of any of them, that was out of the question. She wouldn't want to hurt him, so she merely followed him, waiting for him to show her where he lived. Waiting for him to show her their younger sister. Waiting for him to show that they were okay.

She pretended that they were walking together, like they used to back in the days, before it all had happened. She pretended that he could her talk about what had happened after the fire, that he wouldn't believe it, but that every single of their childhood believes were real. She knew she spoke to a deaf ear, but she couldn't help it, she had to say it. She had to talk to him. To pretend everything was okay.

Sam followed her brother as he walked up to a house, trying to find his keys, just in case the door was locked, which it wasn't, so he just went in, only hesitantly being followed by his big sister's spirit.

When she was inside, she watched as her brother greeted their sister, Katrine, who stuck her head out of the kitchen to greet him with a smile.

She too had changed. Her blonde hair had gotten a lot longer, she hadn't grown that much, but she was still just as thin as she always had been, and it seemed she had gotten a piercing in her nose. What a shame.

Sam had to take herself in reaching out to her sister, like she had with her brother.

Only hesitantly she began to walk around the house, needing to see as much as she could in order not to have a break down.

She went to each of their rooms on the first floor, but she had to hurry out both times, when she found that they both had a picture of her. It had even showed that Kat had saved one of Sam's old toys from the ruins of their old home, which now were place on her bookshelf.

Tears had started to fall because of that, as Sam headed away to the living room, where she to her surprise found a picture of herself standing on top of the fireplace, with a candle on each side, so it almost looked like some sort of alter.

They remembered her.

Katrine called her brother from the kitchen as she had finished preparing dinner, and short after Benjamin came running down the stairs to the kitchen to get something to eat.

As Sam watched them eat, she wondered what had happened to their father. If he was still around, or if they had somehow managed to find the large sum of money she had hidden away, and bought the house by them-selves. It wasn't likely, but she liked to think it was. That they fulfilled the dream she never got to fulfill for their sake.

But just as she did wonder what had happened, and pictured all sorts of horrible scenarios for her father to die, the front door opened, and in stepped a slightly older version of their father. He seemed just as angry as always. Just as Sam feared he would start yelling at Kat and BB, he simply sat down at the table and began to eat, though the atmosphere had become tense, just by his presence. Seemed like they hadn't simply bought the house for themselves.

Once dinner was over, their father went into the living room to head for the TV, leaving his children with the dishes. Apparently it seemed like some things never change, because Sam knew that he certainly wouldn't.

Kat and Benjamin helped each other cleaning the dishes, before they too, though hesitantly, went into the living room, to see some TV, though they both sat as far away from their father as they could. Sam knew that the only reason why they went into the living room, was because he always had this rule, that when they had eaten they _had_ to see whatever he wanted to see, whether it was something M rated or something else, it didn't matter, he forced them to watch it anyway, which had resulted in some pretty traumatic experiences when they were kids, like that one time, when he had forced them to watch a horror movie, despite that Sam had been only nine, and her bother only four. They hadn't been able to sleep for months after.

Sam sat on the floor nearby, watching as her siblings frowned in annoyance over what their father now had forced them to watch. She did barely even know how, or why, but suddenly there was a discussion. Benjamin had complained about the movie, which had resulted in her father threatening him into watching it without complaining. That he should be happy to be allowed some time in front of the TV, but what had been said after had been lost in the argument.

She saw the pattern and she knew there soon would be fists involved, but what could she do? She wasn't even able to tell them to stop. They wouldn't hear her, even if she yelled from the top of her lungs. But she couldn't help but jump in anyway, try to find a way of stopping them.

All she could do was to stand up and watch as the argument would evolve, and the fear of seeing her brother being hit, made her tremble. She tried to grip her father to pull him away, but it only resulted in the pain of not being believed in shoot through her, as her hands went through his arm. The sudden pain made her stumble back and accidently knocking over a vase, so it fell and shattered on the floor, making the discussing duo stop and stare in confusion, of why a vase in the opposite side of the room would suddenly just fall down, without any visible force having caused it.

Kat was being ordered to clean it up, and Benjamin was demanded into going to his room, despite he was nineteen years old, but as long as they lived under the same roof, they had to do as he said. That was one of the main rules in this household.

Sam however, watched as her sister cleaned up her mess, as realization shot through her. She was like a ghost. But that didn't mean she couldn't touch objects. In fact, that was a way she could communicate with them, even if they wouldn't be able to see her. If she started _haunting_ this place, make them realize it was her, then they would believe in her, and they would see her. They would be able to talk. They would be able to _hug_.

A smile spread across her face as hope started to blossom in her chest, and for once she welcomed it.

Her eyes fell on her father who again had sat himself into the armchair in front of the television. This was going to be fun, especially with what she had in store for one specific middle aged man.

It was midnight when she began. She had seen enough ghost movies to know what would scare people, and with lessons from Pitch, who still hadn't found her, it couldn't possible go wrong. She only meant to scare her father, and haunt her siblings enough for them to believe in her, but not scare them. She would never do that.

She went to her sister's room first, looking around, trying to figure what she should do. Something simple and not too complicated, that wouldn't scare her too much.

She took a piece of paper and some crayons before she began to draw a picture of herself. That should be simple enough, right? But would Kat recognize a drawing of Sam with red hair? She finished it either way, despite she had never been much of an artist, and packed the crayons back in place, without waking up her sister. Then, she went into her brother's room, took the picture he had of her and replaced it to his bedside table.

It was something simple, but hopefully it would be enough? She doubted it, actually, but she guessed it would be enough for now, at least for them in one night. She had a lot of time to make them believe in her, after all. But there was one person she needed to scare, and to that, she took a kitchen knife and headed to the bedroom, where she would find her father asleep. She didn't even care if she woke him up since she was supposed to scare him so it didn't matter. After about half an hour, she walked a few steps back, watching the letters she had carved into the wall with such force that the knife was useless now, so therefore she slammed it into the wall just underneath. She needed to do something more, she knew that, but writing "_Remember when you left me in that burning house? Because I do, daddy…_" was enough for now.

She hadn't really expected their reactions the next day. She had expected her father to get mad and accusing, but never that he would go that much over board. She had expected Kat to wonder about the drawing, but never that she accused her brother for pranking her with it, while he accused her for having replaced the picture.

This was going to be harder than she thought, but the next day she did more. She once again wrote a message in her father's room, drew a new drawing to her sister, wrote a certain bedtime story for her brother.

It continued like that for a week or two. But then, she had gotten enough, and chosen to something more drastically – she started haunting just like in the movies. Just like Pitch had learned her.

Whenever they sat in the living room, she started the fireplace, knocked down the picture of her from the altar. She began to move objects in the air, wrote messages on the walls with crayon while they watched, carved her name in her father's arm with a knife while he was asleep (she didn't know why, but she felt a strange satisfaction in causing him pain, like she was starting to become addicted to cause pain, she didn't even remember why she had chosen to do it in the first place - it had just felt like a darkness inside her had taken control of that descision). She had let some of the walls burn a bit, just enough for it to scare her family and let them know she was there, but not enough to actually start a fire.

But one thing she hadn't seen coming, was that the fear she spread in them, was enough for the dark sand to react inside her, and make her powers go wild. She hadn't seen it coming on her seventeenth haunting night, that the sand would cause her to start a fire, when she had started one in the fireplace again, after her father had just put it out. She hadn't stood a chance against stopping it from spreading. She hadn't known her siblings had come home from their walk, and went to bed. She hadn't known how to stop it. In the end, her need to make them see her, had resulted in their doom. She had been so selfish that she hadn't been able to simply let go. She had killed them in the end, though all she wanted was to protect them. To have them see her.

But she had never wanted to see the fear in their eyes, when they had woken up and hurried downstairs, unable to get out. She had never wanted to see them stare at her, when they finally believed in her because of fear, like they had, truly horrified of seeing her in the middle of the flames above their father's burning corpse. She had tried to reach out to them, but they had been too scared to accept her, and since she was in no control of her powers, the rejection had only caused pain to spread in her, making the flames go wild and swallow the two teens, before she stood a chance of getting her powers under control. She hadn't been able to do anything but stare and listen as they burned and screamed of pain, screamed for her to stop. But she was in no control. She was too scared. In shock even. But it was the silence after that killed her. The silence that came after the scream. The silence of death.

So there she stood, in the new remains of a burned house, under the light of the moon, staring at the spot her sibling's burned corpses lay. Tears streaming down her face, as she couldn't believe what had happened.

She broke down, crying hysterically, cursing everything and everyone and herself. But most of all she cursed Man in Moon for having granted her a second chance. She hated him for having given her the powers that in the end had killed her siblings.

Pitch had been right; she was a danger on her own. She shouldn't have tried to be by herself, with no control of her powers at all, and still changing because of the sand.

She was just as bad as her father. No... She was worse.

She had just killed her entire family because she was selfish.


End file.
